Women in Iraq are rallying for their rights. The Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), founded in response to the US-led invasion in 2003, is demanding immediate full rights and equality for women.
It is campaigning against the trafficking of women and girls in a country marked by 30 years of war and occupation. ‘The group runs women’s shelters with clandestine escape routes that shepherd women to safety,’ says Yifat Susskind of US-based MADRE, a partner of OWFI. The shelters provide a safe place for survivors, many of whom have escaped sex slavery by ISIS only to be at risk of so-called ‘honour killings’ in their communities.
