SULAIMANI (ESTA) — As many 15,000 cases of domestic violence have been recorded throughout Iraq this year, an official in the Iraqi interior ministry said on Sunday.
Ali Mohammed Salim, a director for monitoring family and children office in the interior ministry, said 4,000 arrest warrants were issued due to violence domestic in 2020.
The official further said reasons to carry out domestic violence were family problems, economic crisis, alcoholic drinks, drugs and misuse of technological devices.
The domestic violence included sexual abuse, raping, human trafficking and self-immolation, the director said in a press conference.
“Cheating was one of the reasons too,” Salim added.
In April, the United nations in Iraq urged the Iraqi parliament to accelerate the endorsement of the anti-domestic violence law, as there were “alarming reports” of a rise in gender-based and domestic violence cases perpetrated across the country.
UNICEF said in a statement that multiple reports emerged of the rape of a woman with special needs, spousal abuse, immolation and self-immolation as well as self-inflicted injuries due to spousal abuse, sexual harassment of minors, and suicide due to domestic abuse among other crimes.
It also called upon authorities to “ensure that the judicial systems continue to prosecute abusers, invest more in hotline and online services, support the role of civil society organisations, keep shelter doors open for women fleeing abuse and punish perpetrators of any gender-based violence.”
