The Kurdish National Congress of North America
P.O. Box 1663 P.O. Box 43098 P.O. Box 545
Lake Forest, CA Mississauga, ONT Millersville, MD
92630 USA L5B 4A7 CANADA 21108 USA
Tel/Fax: 949-583-1417 Tel: 905-306-7300 Tel: 410-350-4301
www.kncna.org
PRESS RELEASE
For years Kurdish women have been the victims of outrageous, intolerable, and inhuman acts of violence in the name of honor. Unfortunately these crimes against humanity have risen dramatically in the last few years due to the weakness of law enforcement agencies.
We are saddened and shocked to hear about the 17 year- old girl Du’a Khali Aswad from Mosel who is from a Yazidi family. Mrs. Aswad was killed in most barbaric manner in early April by eight men of her family in front of law enforcement officials, who reportedly made no move to stop this violent act.
Although this is out of the region of KRG authority we urge the KRG to detain all those people responsible for the stoning of Du’a and bring them to Justice and to find powerful mechanisms for preventing future abuses and tribal settlement in honor killing cases.
We hope that the public will understand that honor killing is not just a family issue; this violence is a concern for the whole society. The community in Kurdistan, as any civilized community, should set its norms and take its measures to stop violence against women.
We call upon all women’s rights organizations, human rights organizations, members of Kurdish Parliament, all political parties, and individuals to raise their voices against these barbaric acts.
We are also urging pro-women organizations and human rights organizations to send support letters to press for halting any crime in the name of honor.
The Kurdish women’s committee of the KNC is calling upon activists to unite against honor killings.
Soraya Fallah
Chair of Women Right Committee, KNCNA
For more information please email: knc@kurdishnationalcongress.org or soraya@vokradio.com
and visit www.kncna.org
