حقوق المرأة بين الدفاع عنها وإستغلالها

https://bliouaimen2014.wordpress.com/2016/03/13/%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%88%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A3%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%B9%D9%86%D9%87%D8%A7-%D9%88%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%BA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87/

حقوق المرأة وإستغلالها للترويج للإحتلال انذاك. إستنبطت زنكنة مفهوم” نسوية الإستعمار” الذي اضيف   لأساليب الإحتلال الذي استغل مجموعة من نساء العراق ليروّج لهعن طريق المنادات بتحرير المرأة.وكنّ بوقا للغزو ناقدا لما قبله من تعد  على حقوق المرأة ومروجا لدور اللإحتلال في تحرير المرأة العراقية. أطلقت زنكنة مصطلح “القوة الناعمة” على هذا الاأسلوب الاستعماري الذي لوحظ أيضا في تونس وهو ما أضافه الحضور في هذا اللقاء الأدبي. إذ أدرجت إحدى ضيفات اللقاء أنّ الرئيس السابق زين العابدين بن علي كان قد إستخدم نفس المبدأ طوال سنوات حكمه فقد أحاط نفسه بنماذج نساء “متحررات” كنّ يروجن لنظامه الذي منّ عليهنّ بالحريّات حسب تصورهنّ. وعلى إختلافهما إتتفقت كلّ من التجربتان العراقية والتونسية على نتيجة واحدة وهو زيف إنجازات ونجاح هاته النساء اللات ما إن اندثرت انظمتهنّ الدّاعمة حتّى إندثرن بدورهنّ كسحابة صيف. هنا مربط الفرس حيث نعلم انّ الحقوق تفكّ ولا تعطى. الأمر الذي يجعلنا نفكّر مليّا في غايات أبواق المنادين بحقوق المرأة اليوم إذ علينا أن نميّز بين الغثّ والسمين وألاّ ننقاد وراء كلّ من نادى بالحقوق والحريات دون استقصائها.

وعن موقع المرأة العربية أجابت زنكنة أنّ هناك تشابه كثير بين حركات تحرير المرأة فشابهت بين مجلة الأحوال الشخصية وقانون الأسرة في العراق: كلاهما يضمن حقوق المرأة والأسرة. كما ذكرت كمثال للمرأة التونسية الرائدة “أروى القيروانية” وهي أميرة أغلبية أصيلة مدينة القيروان منحت نفسها الحق تطليق نفسها من أبي جعفر المنصور بعد أن اشترطت عليه أن يقر في عقد زواجها أن لا يتزوج عليها امرأة ثانية . وقد اقترن إسمها بصداق خاص سمي الصداق القيرواني.

The truth about the west's criminal bloodbath in Iraq can't be 'countered' indefinitely

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/07/west-criminal-bloodbath-iraq-media-cover-up

• John Pilger
• The Guardian, Friday 7 February 2014 16.30 GMT
• The BBC's Today programme is enjoying high ratings, and the Mail and Telegraph are, as usual, attacking the corporation as leftwing. Last month a single edition of the Radio 4 show was edited by the artist and musician PJ Harvey. What happened was illuminating.
  Harvey's guests caused panic from the moment she proposed the likes of Mark Curtis, a historian rarely heard on the BBC who chronicles the crimes of the British state; the lawyer Phil Shiner and the Guardian journalist Ian Cobain, who reveal how the British kidnap and torture; the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange; and myself.
  There were weeks of absurd negotiation at Broadcasting House about ways of "countering" us and whether or not we could be allowed to speak without interruption from Today's establishment choristers. What this brief insurrection demonstrated was the fear of a reckoning. The crimes of western states like Britain have made accessories of those in the media who suppress or minimise the carnage.
  The Faustian pacts that contrived a world war a century ago resonate today across the Middle East and Asia, from Syria to Japan. Then, as now, cover-up was the principal weapon. In 1917 David Lloyd George, the British prime minister, declared: "If people knew the truth, the war would be stopped tomorrow. But of course they don't know and can't know."
  On Harvey's Today programme I referred to a poll conducted by ComRes last year that asked people in Britain how many Iraqis had been killed as a result of the 2003 invasion. A majority said that fewer than 10,000 had been killed: a figure so shockingly low it was a profanity.
  I compared this with scientific estimates of "up to a million men, women and children [who] had died in the inferno lit by Britain and the US". In fact, academic estimates range from less than half a million to more than a million. John Tirman, the principal research scientist at the MIT Centre for International Studies, has examined all the credible estimates; he told me that an average figure "suggests roughly 700,000". Tirman pointed out that this excluded deaths among the millions of displaced Iraqis, up to 20% of the population.
  The day after the Harvey programme, Today "countered" with Toby Dodge of the LSE – a former adviser to General Petraeus, one of the architects of the disasters in both Iraq and Afghanistan – along withMowaffak al-Rubaie, a former Iraqi "national security adviser" in the occupation regime, and the man who led Saddam Hussein to his lynching.
  These BBC-accredited "experts" rubbished, without evidence, the studies and reduced the number of dead by hundreds of thousands. The interviewer, Mishal Husain, offered no challenge to their propaganda. They then "debated" who was responsible. Lloyd George's dictum held; culpability was diverted.
  But for how long? There is no question that the epic crime committed in Iraq has burrowed into the public consciousness. Many recall that "shock and awe" was the extension of a murderous blockade imposed for 13 years by Britain and the US and suppressed by much of the mainstream media, including the BBC. Half a million Iraqi infants died as a result of sanctions, according to Unicef. I watched children dying in hospitals, denied basic painkillers.
  Ten years later, in New York, I met the senior British official responsible for these "sanctions". He is Carne Ross, once known in the UN as "Mr Iraq". He is now a truth-teller. I read to him a statement he had made to a parliamentary select committee in 2007: "The weight of evidence clearly indicates that sanctions caused massive human suffering among ordinary Iraqis, particularly children. We, the US and UK governments, were the primary engineers and offenders of sanctions and were well aware of the evidence at the time but we largely ignored it and blamed it on the Saddam government … effectively denying the entire population the means to live."
  I said to him: "That's a shocking admission."
  "Yes, I agree," he replied. "I feel ashamed about it ..." He described how the Foreign Office manipulated a willing media. "We would control access to the foreign secretary as a form of reward to journalists. If they were critical, we would not give them the goodies of trips around the world. We would feed them factoids of sanitised intelligence, or we'd freeze them out."
  In the build-up to the 2003 invasion, according to studies by Cardiff University and Media Tenor, the BBC followed the Blair government's line and lies, and restricted airtime to those opposing the invasion. WhenAndrew Gilligan famously presented a dissenting report on Today, he and the director general were crushed.
  The truth about the criminal bloodbath in Iraq cannot be "countered" indefinitely. Neither can the truth about our support for the medievalists in Saudi Arabia, the nuclear-armed predators in Israel, the new military fascists in Egypt and the jihadist "liberators" of Syria, whose propaganda is now BBC news. There will be a reckoning – not just for the Blairs, Straws and Campbells, but for those paid to keep the record straight.

Doubts over women suicide bombers

Media Workers against the War
29thAugust 2008

Most British newspapers carried a story on August 26 about a young Iraqi woman who allegedly was a suicide bomber, but who surrendered to police in Baqouba rather than blow herself up.
There were serious doubts about the story’s authenticity, however. For example, the Metro and the Telegraph reported that the circumstances of her arrest remain unclear, with US officials saying she turned herself in but Iraqi police claiming she was caught after behaving suspiciously.
The Guardian, however, published the claims of the Iraqi police without a shred of probing or scepticism. For example, the paper said that the girl’s father “had carried out a suicide bombing”, while Arabic TV stations showed both the girls’ parents sitting indoors.
Moreover, publishing Abu Ghraib-like photos and video of the young woman in such a humiliating situation verged on the pornographic. The Iraqi police certainly appeared to be enjoying the interrogation.
The Iraqi police have been shown on many occasions in the past to have made up stories. The widely-reported claim that women with Down’s syndrome blew themselves up in a market in Baghdad in February was full of holes.
Everyone in Iraq knows that all the police do after the bombing is washout the evidence. On numerous occasions eyewitnesses have said an explosion was a car bomb - with government number plates - while the police and the puppet government claim it was a suicide bomber. The truth is always the first casualty in these incidents.
All these recent claims about Iraqi women suicide bombers are either made by the US or by the Iraqi puppet government of the Green Zone in an attempt to show that the resistance in Iraq is defeated and therefore resorting to desperate measures. But very few people in Iraq believe that these security forces are there to protect them. According to Mohamed Al Dayni, member of the Iraqi parliament, there are at many documented cases of rape committed by members of the Iraqi security forces, yet to be properly investigated or prosecuted.
I telephoned the reader’s editor of the Guardian to lodge a complaint, in a polite but upset voice. The woman who answered the phone breathed a sigh down the phone as I was explaining to her my complaint as if she was bored.
Can I suggest that people write a short email or make a telephone call to the reader’s editor to complain about the Guardian’s article: reader@guardian.co.uk,0207 7134736
---------------------------------
A video clip of the interrogation of 13 year old Raniya right after her public ordeal at the back of a police car without any protection or legal representation has surfaced on Youtube. She is shown being subjected to threats of violence and sexual suggestions.
The transcript of this video can be read in Arabic and in English.

أطفال العراق: خمسة ملايين يتيم و1300 سجين ومئات حالات الاغتصاب و11 ألف مدمن على المخدرات

بغداد - حسين علي الحياة - 22/01/08//

بحسب الاحصاءات الحكومية الرسمية وتقارير المنظمات الدولية التي تمكنت «الحياة» من الحصول عليها، فإن في العراق اليوم نحو 5 ملايين يتيم يعيش معظمهم ظروفاً اجتماعية صعبة ومعقدة، كما ان 30 في المئة من الذين لم تتعد اعمارهم سن 17 سنة في العراق لم يتمكنوا من اداء امتحاناتهم المدرسية النهائية، ولم تتجاوز نسبة الناجحين في الامتحانات الرسمية 40 في المئة من مجموع الطلبة الممتحنين داخل البلاد.
وبلغ عـــدد الاطــفال النازحين في سن الدراســـة الابتدائية 220000 طفل لم يستطع ثلثاهم مواصلة تعليمهم خلال عام 2007 فضلاً عن ان 760000 طفل لم يلتحقوا اصلاً بالمدارس الابتـــدائية، وبلغ المعدل الشهـــري للاطفال النازحين جراء اعمال العنف والتهديدات من الميليشيات والجماعات الارهابية 25000 طفل تراوح أوضاعهم بين التهجير الداخلي والهجرة الى دول الجوار (تحديداً في أعقاب تفجير مرقدي الإمامين في سامراء في شباط (فبراير) 2006.
لذلك لم يأت قرار منظمة «يونيسيف» بجعل عام 2008 عاماً للطفل العراقي اعتباطاً، إذ لا يحتاج المرء الى تأكيدات تقارير الامم المتحدة والمنظمات الدولية بأن الطفولة في العراق تحتضر وهي في طريقها الى الموت.
الواقع اليومي يدل بوضوح على ان اطفال العراق يعانون اشرس ما يمكن ان يمر به طفل في عالم اليوم، فتداعيات الغزو الاميركي للعراق، ومشاهد القتل اليومي التي طاولت الأطفال، والانفجارات والجثث المتناثرة ودوي القنابل والرصاص كلها عوامل تضاعف من مأزق اطفال هذا البلد.
وينتشر الاطفال في شوارع بغداد، كما في المدن العراقية الاخرى، للتسول او العمل في المهن الرثة او التي تمثل انتهاكاً لطفولتهم. وعلى رغم تباين اسباب تشرد الاطفال الا انهم يشتركون في همّ واحد هو فقدانهم لممارسة حقوقهم كأطفال وما يتمتع به اقرانهم في حالات ومواقع اجتماعية اخرى.
ويقول ممثل منظمة «يونيسيف» في العراق روجر رايت لـ «الحياة» ان «حياة ملايين الاطفال مازالت مهددة بسبب العنف وسوء التغذية وقلة المياه الصالحة للشرب على رغم استمرار البرامج الموجهة لأطفال العراق التي يصل تمويلها الى نحو مئة مليون دولار سنوياً».
ويضيف إن «أطفال العراق أكثر أطفال العالم عرضة للأذى وتصــعب حماية حقوقهم في نيل طفولة آمنة اذ ينشؤون خارج نطاق جهود التنمية، وغالباً ما يكونون غير مرئيين في النقاشات والتشريعات العامة في البلاد وحتى في الإحصاءات والتقارير الإخبارية « مشيراً الى أن «الوضع الأمني المتدهور يحول دون وصول فرق عمل المنظمات الدولية ومؤسسات المجتمع المدني الى مناطق عدة في العراق».
وتضمن التقرير السنوي الأخير لمنظمة «يونيسيف» حول وضع الأطفال في عام 2007، تفاصيل مهمة عن أطفال العراق. ويبحث التقرير محنة مئات ملايين الأطفال في العالم الذين يعانون الاساءة والاستغلال والتمييز، ودعت المنظمة في تقريرها هذا الى صحوة عالمية تتمثل بالعمل على تسليط المزيد من الضوء على خلفية الوضع الذي يعيشه اطفال العراق وتخصيص سنة 2008 لدعم الاطفال في العراق وجعله في اولويات الاستثمار الدولي داخل البلاد».
ويقول مدير منظمة «أصوات الطفولة» عماد هادي لـ «الحياة» إن «غياب الجهات الحكومية المعنية بشؤون الطفل وفقر عمل المنظمات الانسانية والعالمية ومنظمات الامم المتحدة فاقمت ازمة الطفل في العراق ويجرى السكوت يومياً على مئات الانتهاكات ضد الطفل العراقي».
... ومواجهة يومبة مع العنفويضيف «لا احد يدري بأن هناك 11000 طفل مدمن على المخدرات في بغداد ولا يصدق أحد بأن اطفال العراق باتوا فريسة للاغتصاب اذ تعرض عشرات من الفتيات في سن (12 سنة) الى التحرش الجنسي، لا بل ان هناك اماكن تستخدم لممارسة الجنس مع الاطفال في بغداد والمحافظات الاخرى عملت مجموعة من المنظمة على رصدها». وعلى رغم أن إنعدام الامن هو مشكلة العراقيين جميعاً الا ان تأثيره المباشر يكون في الاطفال اكثر من سواهم، إذ إن الانفجارات اليومية والسيارات المفخخة التي انفجرت بالقرب من المدارس أودت بحياة المئات منهم.
وتشير بعض التقارير شبه الرسمية الى ان نسبة 20 في المئة من ضحايا هذه التفجيرات هم من الاطفال.
ويشدد الدكتور مظفر الطائي، رئيس قسم الاختبارات في مركز البحوث النفسية والتربوية في جامعة بغداد، على ان «المشكلة لا تتوقف عند انفجار قنبلة تودي بحياة اطفال، وأن الناجين ليست لديهم مشكلة، بل على العكس تماماً، فإن تأثيرات انعدام الأمن في حياة الاطفال ليس لها حدود»، مضيفاً في حديث الى «الحياة» ان «التأثيرات النفسية لهذه الانفجارات وعمليات القتل، وتصوير مقتل العشرات وقطع الرؤوس وتمزيق الاجساد تفوق جميع التأثيرات الاخرى».
ويلفت الى انه من المؤكد بقاء تلك التأثيرات السلبية في هؤلاء الاطفال مدة طويلة جداً لا سيما ان هذه الحوادث تجرى امام اطفال لا تراوح اعمارهم بين السادسة والسابعة وعلينا تخيل اي نفسية ستتكون عند هذا الطفل وأي تأثير في سلوكه في المستقبل.
وشهدت الايام القليلة الماضية في العراق سلسلة من المؤتمرات والندوات التي تسلط الضوء على حجم الكارثة التي يتعرض لها الطفل العراقي.
ويقول رئيس هيئة النزاهة موسى فرج لـ «الحياة» إن «المؤتمر الذي نظمته الهيئة هو بمثابة جرس انذار للعراقيين أفراداً وحكومة ومنظمات ومجتمعاً مدنياً ومجلس نواب حول مأساة الطفل العراقي داخل العراق وخارجه» داعياً الى «تبني برنامج مؤسساتي وتشريعي لمساعدة الاطفال لا سيما الايتام منهم من خلال استحداث وزارة او تشكيل هيئة مستقلة، تعنى بالطفولة» لافتاً الى ان «غياب مثل هكذا مؤسسات ساعد في شكل كبير في تفاقم الازمة».
وعلى رغم ان مجلس النواب الذي يعد المسؤول الاول عن مثل هذه التشريعات الا أن موقفه سلبي تجاه القضية. وبحسب قول رئيسة لجنة المرأة والطفل في البرلمان سميرة الموسوي فإن «الصراعات بين الكتل البرلمانية داخل البرلمان حول قضايا شائكة غالباً ما تقف حجر عثرة أمام طرح قضايا يعدها البعض ثانوية في الوقت الراهن».
وتضيف في حديث الى «الحياة» ان لجنتها «اقترحت اكثر من مرة مشاريع قوانين لإنشاء صندوق لرعاية الايتام وتشكيل هيئات تنفيذية ورقابية تعنى بالطفولة»، الا انها، كما تؤكد، «لا تلقى اذناً صاغية من الكتل السياسية المتصارعة في ما بينها».
وتشير الى انه «على رغم إمكانات اللجنة المحدودة الا أننا تمكنا من تسليط الضوء على مشاكل الاطفال في العراق»، موضحة ان اللجنة قامت بزيارة السجون والمعتقلات في وزارات الدفاع والداخلية والعدل من اجل الوقوف على أعداد الاطفال المعتقلين اذ اكتشفت ان هناك ما يقارب 1300 طفل معتقل في هذه السجون!

The BRussells Tribunal wants to present a new important survey it has published: Deterioration of Women’s rights and Living Conditions Under Occupation, written by Iraqi scientist Dr. Souad N. Al-Azzawi, specialist on the subject of depleted uranium and member of our Advisory Committee: (http://www.brusselstribunal.org/pdf/WomenUnderOccupation.pdf)The conclusions of this study are devastating for the US occupiers and confirm earlier studies, polls and surveys like the Lancet survey and ORB. And even worse: the survey concludes that the total number of deaths amongst the 4.5 million internally displaced or forced migrated people both inside and outside the country is estimated to be 868,500.The occupation has destroyed the state and nation of Iraq and is continuing to annihilate the population.The US war machine is committing genocide against the people of Iraq.Some of the conclusions:- The unemployment rate is 85% amongst women in the studied population.- 47% of the women in the study hold some form of higher education degrees including Ph.D.s. When this number is added to high school graduates, the percentage rises to 70.6%.- The biggest reasons of unemployment are a lack of security and sectarian violence in the country.- About 36% of the families have no income or an income of less than $100/month. Women and children are made to beg or do menial labor or even work as prostitutes to feed their families.- Out of the 150 studied families, 87 of them have family members who were killed. There is a high mortality rate of 193 per 1000, indicating the existence of genocide amongst the migrated or displaced population. The studied population is a bias group targeted by the occupation forces and sectarian militias. The total number of deaths amongst the 4.5 million internally displaced or forced migrated people both inside and outside the country is estimated to be 868,500.- The highest percentage of killings occur due to sectarian militias, followed by occupation forces excessive use of violence (torture etc..).- The 66 missing members of the studied families represent 12.69% of the members of the studied population, most of who left home for schools, colleges, work, etc. and never came back. Others were captured by guards and security forces and there is no information regarding their current whereabouts.- About a third of the studied women in the group have developed some form of psychological or other stress related illness.20% of the students in the studied families are failing school. Major causes include emotional damage as a result of having one or more family members killed and an inability to focus.- 50% of the students in the studied population are school dropouts. Major causes of quitting include a lack of security and forced displacement or migration. Male student dropouts are higher in number than females.- The mortality rate among the displaced population is 193 per 1000Please read and spread this important survey.Dirk AdriaensensMember BRussells Tribunal executive committeeCoordinator SOS IraqDeterioration of Iraqi Women's Rights and LivingConditions Under OccupationDr. Souad N. Al-AzzawiAssociate Professor in Environmental EngineeringBaghdad, Iraq – 19 December 2007.Abstract:For centuries, Iraqi women struggled for their human rights. It wasn't until the 1960's that some improvements in constitutional women's rights were implemented. During the seventies and eighties, women's rights improved significantly, providing better educational opportunities, political involvement, equal job opportunities, health care and development of laws and regulations to ensure a better life for Iraqi women and girls.Deterioration of women's rights in Iraq began during the US-UN comprehensive economical sanctions imposed on Iraqi during the nineties. In 2003, the invasion of Iraq by the USA and its allies resulted in the descent of the rights of women just like other elements in Iraqi society, infrastructure and the general quality of life.To define the extent of the USA occupation impact on women's rights and living conditions, a survey composed of 21 questions was distributed in two major cities:Inside Baghdad, Iraq in the Karada District, andKudsiya area in Damascus, Syria where more than 200,000 Iraqi refugees live.The 150 women who answered the survey were a part of 150 families or households composed of a total of 502 Iraqis.Statistical analysis of the questions of the survey indicated dangerous trends in the security status that drove Iraqi women out of their jobs, where 85% of the studied women are unemployed (taking into consideration that the large majority of this percentage have a formal education). The study also indicated that 36% of the studied families lived with no income or a very low income of $100/month or less which has lead to women and children doing menial labor or begging. Also, it was found that 87 families have a victim of either occupation forces or sectarian violence. The mortality rate among this targeted displaced population is 193 per 1000. this high mortality rate is an indication of genocide existing amongst the migrated and displaced population. Missing family members rate at 12.7, and it is also estimated that 20% of the students of the studied women's families are having difficulties and failing schools. A percentage of other students quit school altogether.The occupation is totally responsible for the deterioration and destruction of women's lives and rights in Iraq. Iraqi women under occupation need the help of their sisters in international women's organizations abroad to help protect them and protect their rights. They also have the right to resist the occupier in every way available to reclaim their lost lives and ensure a better life for themselves and their families.Read the whole survey at http://www.brusselstribunal.org/pdf/WomenUnderOccupation.pdf

Children with serious illnesses abandoned

Photo: Afif Sarhan/IRIN
Many children in Iraq are being abandoned by parents who are too poor to support them. These three children are being cared for by KCA, a local NGO


BAGHDAD, 21 November 2007 (IRIN) -


Nine-year-old Faleh Muhammad was abandoned by his family in April 2006. He was left to fend for himself in the streets of Baghdad, and later he was diagnosed with leukaemia. “I miss my mother… in the last days before they left me, she was very sad. One day I woke up in the morning to find my father and mother had disappeared,” Faleh said. “We were living in an abandoned building near Hay Jamia’a District with three other families. I asked them about my parents and they told me they had left. So I had to work to be able to eat because those families couldn’t feed me,” he said. Faleh said he started begging in the streets of Baghdad and one day he had a serious headache and fainted. Helped by passers-by, he was taken to Yarmouk hospital and after two days diagnosed with leukaemia. “I remember my father saying I was useless because I was rotten from the inside and I never understood why, but now I know that the reason for abandoning me was my disease,” Faleh said, adding that his father was poor and could not afford the treatment. Faleh, who is now receiving treatment, is being looked after by a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) Keeping Children Alive (KCA), which estimates that in Baghdad alone over 700 children have been abandoned by their families since January 2006. However, the KCA lacks the resources to help him to get proper treatment. “The problem is even more serious among new-born babies and there are many cases of children aged 1-12 abandoned,” said Mayada Marouf, a spokesperson for KCA. “Most of them have a life-threatening disease and their families cannot afford treatment.” Long-term psychological effects “All children whose parents have left them are suffering from serious psychological disorders, and the youngest urgently need a family to take care of them,” Marouf said. “Poverty and violence have also forced parents to abandon a son to save the lives of their other children.” Specialists said the greatest concern is the long-term effect on an entire generation: the trauma of what is happening to those children is enormous.


“Abandoned children carry long-term psychological effects. There is a strong possibility that they could change their behaviour after feeling ostracised,” Dr Ibrahim Abdel-Rahman, a psychiatrist at the Iraqi Aid Association (IAA), another NGO, said. The KCA has a department that works with vulnerable children. It also has three psychologists - two from Jordan and one from the United Arab Emirates. “In some cases they keep to themselves and don’t want to speak to professionals or any other person. They feel they are on their own although there are people who want to help them,” Abdel-Rahman said.Iraqi Red Crescent concerned The Iraqi Red Crescent (IRC) told IRIN the rise in the number of abandoned children was alarming, the result of sectarian violence and drastic socio-economic problems. An IRC employee, who preferred anonymity, told IRIN many parents leave their children with relatives who already have over 20 children to look after and are later abandoned or forced to work in the streets to supplement the household income. It is not uncommon to see a houses teaming with children. Over 1.6 million children under the age of 12 have become homeless in Iraq, according to the country’s Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. That's almost 70 percent of the estimated 2.5 million Iraqis who are homeless inside the country. “There are no reliable estimates of how many orphans and abandoned children are in Iraq today but we believe, according to some data collected by local NGOs, that over 8,000 children are in the same or a similar situation to that of Faleh,” Mayada said.


as/ar/cb

An Exhibition of Thuraiya Naaman's paintings

معرض لرسوم ثـريا نعمان في أيلينغ بلندن

يوم 13 الى يوم 16 أيلول 2007

بي أم كاليري في بيتس هانكر

مانور هاوس

ماتلوك لين

أيلينغ

تبرعت ثريا بخمس من لوحاتها الفنية لأيتام العراق و قالت:" رسومي تعبر عن المشاعر التي تتملكني من الأسى الممزوج بالغضب الجامح أزاء ما يحدث في بلدي الجميل" و سيفتتح المعرض يوم 12 أيلول 2007

صورأخرى لتلك اللوحات موجودة أسفل البلوغ

Thuraiya Naaman will be exhibiting her paintings in Ealing, London during 13th - 16th September 2007. She has dedicated some of her paintings to Iraqi orphans.

Private viewing for friends of SIUI by invitation12th Sep 18:30- 20:30Thursday 13th Sep till Sunday 16th 13:00-16:30 except Friday 13:00 -20:30

Venue: PM Gallery at Pitzhanger, Manor House, Mattock Lane, Ealing, London W5 5EQ
Tel: 0208 567 1227.

Thuraiya has donated 5 of her paintings for the orphans of Iraq. She said:" my paintings represent my rage for what is happening to my beautiful country".
Scroll down to see more pictures of the donated paintings.

Urgent Appeal:Iraq Needs Help

Due to the disastrous situation in Iraq and due to the humanitarian catastrophe, above all affecting the civilian population and especially Iraqi children, we, the editors of Zeit-Fragen, would like to urgently propose to all Swiss hospitals and to hospitals in other countries to provide emergency relief. As an immediate measure every hospital could make room and medical care available for at least one child with a close relative, at best the mother.
With this appeal for immediate help we would also like to address all schools in our country and in other European countries (especially in Germany and Austria), to admit one Iraqi youth. Traumatized by the long-lasting war and often deprived of their father or of both parents, these youths would be greatly aided by a willing reception on the part of a school community or a group of classmates in a host country. Not only would this measure save lives, but it would enable young Iraqi students to continue their education, and would also represent a contribution to their country’s future. For the pupils and teachers of the receiving school it would be an opportunity to provide spontaneous help for a fellow student from a threatened country, something that would enrich their lives, strengthen them in their human commitment and also
create solidarity between the two countries. It is human nature to help others in need. Particularly in Switzerland, a neutral state with a humanitarian tradition, it must become a matter of national concern to take action in this manner. The same would apply to Germany and Austria.
Hans-Christof Graf von Sponeck (former Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations) and medical doctor Eva-Maria Hobiger (Gesellschaft für Österreichisch-Arabische Beziehungen GÖAB – Society for Austrian-Arab Relations), are in touch with Iraqi groups inside and outside the country and have declared their readiness to assist making contact. Current Concerns is in close contact with Iraqi medical doctors inside and outside the country.
We are presently endeavouring to establish a recognized trusteeship, i.e. an experienced and reliable mediator in Switzerland, to organize this aid. We urge all our readers to support us in this specific matter. As soon as an adequate structure is created, it will be advertised on our website and in the next edition of Current Concerns.
Specifi c suggestions can be presented to the editors of Current Concerns,
phone +41 44 35065 50,
or via email to: CurrentConcerns@zeit-fragen.ch
Thank you very much for your assistance!

أين أنت يا أوميد مدحت مبارك؟

واع - عاصم الفياض
2007-06-21 5:42:15
في بلد أمسى فيه من الصعب أن يُصدم احد بمشاهدة أية جريمة مهما كانت بشاعتها، لأن ما يشهده العراق من سيل الجرائم جعل حدوث الجرائم ومتابعتها أمراً روتينياً، ومع ذلك وفي هكذا أجواء صُدم العراقيون والعالم بالصور المروعة لضحايا دار الأيتام التي بثتها شبكة CBSالأمريكية، وبغض النظر عن دوافع الأمريكان الذين هم سبب كل رزايا العراق والعراقيين، نضع أمام القارئ ثلاث ملاحظات
أولاً -في عام 2001 أمر صدام حسين بأن يتولى كل وزير في الحكومة مسؤولية أحد دور الدولة الخاصة برعاية الأيتام وبشكل شخصي، ولكون الدار "الفضيحة" كانت للأيتام من ذوي الاحتياجات الخاصة (المعوقين) ولكون هؤلاء بحاجة إلى رعاية اجتماعية وصحية، كُلف وزير الصحة (الكردي) الدكتور أوميد مدحت مبارك برعاية الدار بشكل مباشر من قبله، وقد كانت لي فرصة زيارة الدار في أواخر عام 2002 وخلال شهر رمضان، وقد وجدت مستوى مدهش من الرعاية بالرغم من وجود حصار مجرم استنزف موارد الدولة:
الدار مجهزة بمولدة كهرباء لتأمين التيار الكهربائي خلال ساعات القطع المبرمج بسبب الحصار - ساعتين نهاراً وساعتين ليلاً

· جميع غرف الدار مجهزة بمكيفات هواء.
· تجهيزات وفرش لأسرة الأيتام وسجاد للأرضيات من أفضل الأنواع.
· الدار تحوي مطبخ وغرفة طعام مجهزة بأفضل التجهيزات.
· برادات لحفظ الأطعمة الطازجة والمجمدة (مليئة) إضافة لمخزن الأغذية الجافة.
· كادر طبي واجتماعي مؤهل لعلاج ومساعدة الأيتام تصل لحد إطعامهم أو تغسيلهم وتحميمهم، وتطوير مهاراتهم ومنها رسم بعض الرسوم الجميلة التي علقت في ذاكرتي.
· وجود الكثير من الألعاب الخاصة باللعب أو بتطوير الإمكانات.
· لكون الزيارة كانت في رمضان وجدت حلويات مرسلة من الوزير (وهي ليست الوجبة الأولى لمناسبة شهر رمضان) ولفت نظري إنها مجهزة من محلات أبو عفيف (ويعرف البغداديون بأنها أفضل أنواع الحلويات في بغداد)، إضافة

لملابس شتوية جديدة مهيأة للتوزيع على النزلاء مع حلول عيد الفطر
وللأسف لم أحاول الحصول على بعض الصور للدار، حيث كان يرسل تقرير معزز بألبوم للصور عن حالة الدار إلى ديوان رئاسة الجمهورية دوريا

ً.
2. ثانياً -أول مأساة تعرضت لها الدار كانت أبان السقوط وأعمال النهب التي سهلتها قوات الاحتلال الأمريكية، فنُهبت حتى أسرة الأيتام، ولولا الخيرين من أهل المنطقة لكانت الكارثة كاملة، وعندما يتحدثون الآن عن 24 نزيل فقط فهذا يعني انخفاض كبير بالأعداد والتي لا نعرف لها سبباً (ويفترض بالمنظمات الدولية التحقق من ذلك ).

ثالثاً- الدار المنكوبة تقع مقابل جامع براثا الذي يتولاه الشيخ جلال الدين الصغير احد أقطاب الائتلاف العراقي الموحد، والذي كان يفترض به أن يرى من وجود هؤلاء الأيتام إلى جواره فرصة لأعمال الخير، فكفالة الأيتام من خير أعمال البر، لكنه لم ينتبه لذلك، غير أنه انتبه لمراب للباصات تابع لمصلحة نقل الركاب مجاور لدار الأيتام، وأوعز منذ أولى أيام الاحتلال بأن يسلم الإيراد المتحقق من عمل الباصات لأتباعه لتغطية "نفقات الجامع"؟

فأين أنت يا دكتور أوميد لترى الصور المروعة للأطفال الأيتام اللذين كانوا برعايتك؟، ولتسمع تصريحات سفيه الحكومة وزير العمل والشؤون الاجتماعية محمود الشيخ راضي المسؤول الجديد عن الدار في العراق

"الجديد "

assemalfaiad@yahoo.com

Clinging To Life In A Baghdad Orphanage

SIUI: Please note this orphanage was in a very good condition even in the aftermath of the US invasion. SIUI member has visited this orphanage in 2005.
BAGHDAD, June 18, 2007

(CBS) By CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan
If you find it hard to look at the photograph of the young Iraqi boy covered in flies, lying half-starved and near death on the concrete floor of a "special needs orphanage" in central Baghdad, then think about this: One of the American soldiers who came to rescue this boy told me that before they took that picture, they waved thousand of flies off his fragile, bleeding body. "It was much worse before," the soldier said to me. "When we found him he was black with flies." There were hundreds in his open mouth. They were crawling out of his nose and ears and anywhere they could feed on his flesh and bloody, open sores, in what appeared to be the last few hours of his life. Read more ►

مسؤولية المالكي واعضاء البرلمان في جحيم الاطفال المعاقين القدس العربي - هيفاء زنكنة

الملف نت ينشر صور الرعب في ملجأ الايتام العراقي

زارت لجنة المرأة والأسرة والطفولة إحدى لجان مجلس النواب العراقي دار العجزة التابعة إلى دائرة الرعاية الاجتماعية التي هي إحدى

تشكيلات وزارة العمل والشؤون الاجتماعية في منطقة الشماعية

.كما زارت اللجنة دار الحنان لرعاية ذوي الاحتياجات الخاصة للاطفال في العطيفية اذ وجدنا ان عدد الاطفال (100) طفل (ذكر وانثى) يسكنون في ثلاث قاعات بشكل مختلط علما ان اعمارهم (14 – 16 ) سنة . كما وجدنا ان هناك نقص كبير في الكادر وخاصة المربيات .. بسبب الراتب القليل جدا وهو (68) الف دينار للتعيين الحديث

نشاط لجنة المرأة والأسرة والطفولة في مجلس النواب ..

الاثنين 23-4-2007

Mahmoud Rafid, Iraq, “I have to keep working despite being sexually abused”

BAGHDAD, 13 June 2007 (IRIN) -
Mahmoud Rafid, 13, says he is afraid to go on selling goods on the streets of Baghdad, after being sexually harassed and abused. He lost his father a year ago and his mother has cancer so Mahmoud, his two sisters, 14 and 11, and brother, 9, had to find ways of feeding themselves. After selling many of their possessions to raise money, they can now be seen at traffic lights selling chocolates, newspapers and pens. “My mother is very sick and if we lose her our situation is going to be even worse. We were all forced to leave our school to help boost our household income but the situation is dangerous and sometimes I have the impression that one day I won’t return home. “My sisters are the ones who suffer most. There are many very bad men in Baghdad who want to do bad things to them. They stay near me when we are working and I always carry a knife with me to defend them in case someone wants to sexually abuse them. I have suffered that, and don’t want this to happen to them too. “I have to keep working to help my family despite being [sexually] abused. Our relatives have turned their back on us and my father didn’t leave us enough money. “My mother stays at home waiting for us, crying, desperate and afraid that something might happen to us on the streets. Her cancer is developing fast and if she dies we will have to rely on ourselves and maybe we’ll have to sleep on the streets. “I miss the time I was at school and if I had the opportunity to go back I would just grab it. I was a good student, with good marks and many friends. But now even my friends have abandoned us because we work the streets. Their families think we aren’t good company for them. “Many times people come to us offering money and food in return for us selling drugs, but we never agree to do it. My brother tried drugs twice and got very sick. We couldn’t do anything. Thank God, after my mother took good care of him he gave up this bad thing. “I hope one day we can have a good and safe life again. I would like to see my brother at school again and eat a nice piece of meat. But until this happens, we will keep working, trying to afford some food for my mother in her last days.” as/at/ed/cb

IRIN:Child labour on the rise as poverty increases
IRIN-ME Weekly Round-up 129 for 1 June - 7 June 2007

Majdy Imad, Iraq “I can’t stand the life of an orphan anymore”

“I need someone to take care of me because I can’t stand the life of an orphan anymore. I am used to being loved, which I don’t find here in the orphanage. “My parents and sisters were killed in our home when a gang forced them to leave the house. When they refused, they were all shot dead. No one was there to help them. “At the time, I was at a friend’s house. He had a birthday party and after insisting a lot, my father agreed to take me there - and I think it was because God wanted me to survive. “After the party, it was getting late but my parents hadn’t come to collect me so my friend’s father decided to take me home. I arrived to find the shock of my life. Police cars were at the door and dozens of people were standing in front of my home. A neighbour rushed to me and took me to her home before I could go inside our house. “Two hours later, I was taken for interrogation at the district police station and since then I have never gone back home. I was taken to a neighbour’s house who tried to find my uncle in Jordan. When she spoke with him, he just told her that he didn’t know what to do with me and hung up.
Read more ►

More Iraqi voices
Rana Jalil, "I saw my fiancé and father killed on my wedding day"
Saleh Nizar, “I thought I would not stand the torture”
Saleh Rabia’a, “The war made me lose my children and my wife"
Hassan Khalid Hayderi, “Either you give us good marks or you will die"
Um Mustafa Bakr, “I can’t find medicines for my son’s convulsions”