NEWS: REMAKING IRAQ WITHOUT GUNS  NEW
June 5, 2004 – (NYT Op-Ed) When the heads of the world's leading industrialized nations meet in Georgia next week, they can do something unexpectedly positive for the Middle East, Muslim women, economic freedom and even democracy -- if they take seriously a small but powerful idea on their agenda: microlending in Iraq.

NEWS: RIGHTS GROUPS - MIXED REACTION TO NEW GOVERNMENT  NEW
June 1, 2004 - (IRIN) After weeks of wrangling, a new government has been sworn in to serve as an interim authority to take over sovereignty from US-led administrators on 30 June. Workers at an Iraqi human rights group and a women's group expressed cautious support for the new government, which will serve until general elections scheduled for January, but called on it to be independent of US-led coalition forces.

AFTER AN ADVOCATE'S KILLING, IRAQI WOMEN TRY TO STAY COURSE
April 1, 2004 – (Christian Monitor) For their new women's center, the women of Karbala chose the name of a warrior: Zainab al-Hawraa. Sister of the Shiite martyr Imam Hussein, Zainab fought alongside him in 680, saving his young son and his legacy for future generations.

REPORTERS ON THE JOB
April 1, 2004 – (Christian Monitor) When Annia Ciezadlo visited the women's center in Karbala, Iraq, she was told that the Iraqi women there were getting death threats. Annia went to several mosques in town to see what people were saying about the center.

WOMEN'S RIGHTS GROUPS IN IRAQ THREATENED
March 26, 2004 – (Feminist Daily News Wire) Threats against women's rights leaders and organizations have been increasing in Iraq over the past few weeks. According to IRIN News, women working for Women for Women International have received a series of threats that have kept half the staff at home for two days because of poor security. The other half went to Amman Jordan for safety. According to Anissa Badaoudi of the National NGO Support Working Group, other women’s organizations have been threatened as well, reports IRIN News.

NEWS: SHOUTING TO BE HEARD IN NEW IRAQ
March 25, 2004 – (BBC) "Our centre must be for all the women," declares Ghaida al-Sahai. Under the old regime, not only would the $145,000 centre just for women not have been possible, neither would Dr Sahai be able to decide who should use it.

NEWS:INTERIM CONSTITUTION SHORTCHANGES WOMEN
March 5, 2004 – (HRW) Iraq’s proposed interim constitution fails to give adequate protection to women’s human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The Iraqi Governing Council is expected to sign the interim constitution in the coming days.

NEWS: IRAQI WOMEN'S WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR POLITICAL GAINS IS CLOSING
February 26, 2004 – (NYTimes) Emboldened by the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi women are pushing for political freedoms many of them have never enjoyed. But as they do, a rising tide of religious zeal threatens even the small victories they have won.

NEWSPAPER: EQUAL RIGHTS NOW! 
Iraqi Women’s Rights Coalition (IWRC), UK
IWRC have just released the 11th issue of their fortnightly newspaper “Equal Rights Now!” While IWRC is based in the UK, the editors are also co-founders of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), which was established in Iraq on June 22 (see Event and Statement below). Previous issues of the newspaper have addressed the growth of women’s organizations in Iraq, such as the launch of the OWFI, the victimization of women as a result of the current insecurity, and recent statements and speeches made by members of the IWRC and OWFI. For all previous issues of “Equal Rights Now!”, click here. To receive the fortnightly newspaper by email, contact Houzan Mahmoud, editor, at equalrightsnow@hotmail.com.

CAMPAIGN AND PETITION: IRAQI ACTIVIST RECEIVES DEATH THREAT  
February 2004, MADRE
Ms. Yanar Mohammed, founder of the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq and Editor in Chief of the newspaper Al-Mousawat (Equality), received an e-mail threatening death if the activist continues her struggle against the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council’s Resolution 137. Introduced by a group of reactionary clerics on the Governing Council, the Resolution imposes arbitrary interpretations of Islamic Law, curbing Iraqis' basic human rights, particularly those of women.

NEWS: IRAQI WOMEN DEMAND EQUAL RIGHTS
February 18, 2004 – (AFP) Groups of women took to the streets around Iraq on Wednesday to demand at least a 40 percent share of the country's new political power as females make up more than half of the population.

NEWS: WOMEN CALL FOR EQUAL REPRESENTATION IN IRAQ   
February 6, 2004 – (WeNews) Maysoon al-Damluji is a member of an elite club, but one that's trying hard to become a lot less exclusive. As Iraq's Deputy Minister of Culture, al-Damluji is one of a small handful of Iraqi women entrusted with real political power in the country today.

NEWS: WOMEN'S GROUP FIGHTS FOR RIGHTS IN THE NORTH  
December 29, 2003 – (IRIN) The opening of a new women's and children's hospital in Arbil, northern Iraq, is the latest victory for the region's main women's group.

NEWS: WOMEN UNDER SIEGE  
December 29, 2003 - (The Nation) All the shades are drawn in Raba's house on a wide residential street in one of Baghdad's more affluent neighborhoods. Small daughters and nieces streak through a well-appointed living room, leaving giggles and shrieks in their wake, as their young mothers and aunts sip Pepsi from cans and make wry comments in the darkened space. None of these women leave this home, even so many months after the war came to its so-called end. And Raba, a usually spunky twentysomething, is afraid even to stand in her own doorway. "Before the war we were out until 2 o'clock in the morning all the time," she says. "Now I don't even bother to put on my shoes."

NEWS: IRAQI WOMEN RAISE VOICES - FOR QUOTAS  
December 17, 2003 – (Christian Science Monitor) As an exiled opposition leader, Safia al-Souhail battled most of her life to get rid of Iraq's old government. Now she's fighting to get into the new one.

NEWS: SHELTER GIVES STRENGTH TO WOMEN  
December 12, 2003 - (IRIN) Like couples the world over, 33-year-old Hasmiyah and Ali fell in love three years ago and wanted to get married. Hasmiyah’s family refused to accept Ali as a good husband for her, because she is a Sunni and he is Shi'ah, members respectively of the two dominant Muslim sects in the country. Then the problems started.

NEWS: WOMEN ENCOURAGED TO JOIN POLITICS  
December 4, 2003 - (IRIN) It would be a tragedy if women in Iraq’s male-dominated society did not get more involved in forming a new government and in public life, a British human rights advocate told reporters during a recent visit to the capital, Baghdad.

INTERVIEW: WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATE OF THE NGO SECTOR IN IRAQ? AN INTERVIEW 
November 28, 2003 – (AWID Resource Net Friday File, Issue 154) Interview with Lesley Abdela, from Shevolution. Lesley was recently working in Iraq on helping to develop civil society and NGO sectors, especially with women’s organizations.

NEWS: EVE ENSLER AND JANE FONDA WELCOME YANAR MOHAMMED IN NEW YORK CITY  
November 25, 2003 – (DIWR) On November 18, 2003, Yanar Mohammed the founder of Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq was interviewed by “V-Day: Celebrating Vagina Warriors" founder/Playwright, Eve Ensler in a gathering in NYC in which 200 people participated. Ensler became famous when she produced the play “The Vagina Monologues” a play that talks candidly about women’s relationship to their bodies and sexuality. The play received great critical acclaim and continues to play in Venues throughout the US.

NEWS: IRAQI WOMEN: AN UNKNOWN QUANTITY  
November 19, 2003 – (WADI e.V.) Iraqi women hoped that the United States overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime would provide a long-deserved improvement in social, political and economic opportunities for women. As the U.S. formed the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), women hoped they would have a voice in decision-making during the reconstruction and democratization efforts - and counted on the U.S. to ensure their participation. Many women's groups, however, claim that the Bush administration, which encouraged these hopes, has failed to include women in any meaningful way.

NEWS: V-DAY HOSTS IRAQI ACTIVIST YANAR MOHAMMED IN U.S. NOVEMBER 16-18: "V-DAY: CELEBRATING VAGINA WARRIORS" V-DAY FOUNDER/PLAYWRIGHT EVE ENSLER TO INTERVIEW MS. MOHAMMED IN NYC 
November 14, 2003 – (V-Day) Academy Award winning Actor/Activist Jane Fonda And V-Day Executive Director Jerri Lynn Fields To Introduce The Evening V-Day is hosting Iraqi activist Yanar Mohammed of Organization Of Women's Freedom In Iraq who can offer first hand report on the status and conditions for women in Iraq NYC and DC November 16-18th.

NEWS: NEW PROJECT GIVES HOPE TO SINGLE MOTHERS   
November 11, 2003 - (IRIN) A circle of women sit on red-carpeted cushions on the floor at the Women for Women (WFW) office in Baghdad, telling their stories to each other as they make friends. Most of them wear the traditional full-length black aba'a, or coat, and their heads are covered, even though there are no men in the room.

NEWS: YANAR MOHAMMED SPEAKS IN NYC!  
November 9, 2003 - (DIWR) On October 23, a chill evening that felt more like December than October, approximately 130 people gathered at Schimmel Auditorium in downtown Manhattan to hear Yanar Mohammed speak about women’s struggle for freedom in Iraq. Schimmel auditorium is located at Pace University only three blocks from the site of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, and thus, held even more significance and intensity for the night’s meeting. People hailed from all five boroughs of Manhattan, as well as upstate New York, and five cities in NJ. The importance of this event cannot be overstated. It was the first time a NY audience has listened to an analysis of post war Iraq from a secular, socialist and women’s liberationist perspective. To be sure, much work remains to be done in regards to educating the American left, but this talk represented a groundbreaking first step toward challenging the nationalistic tendency of left groups in the US which ignore or apologize for crimes against women under Political Islam, as well as the post-modern “cultural relativist” ideology which does the same in so much of contemporary western feminism.

NEWS: FINNISH NGO CONSORTIUM AND WADI E. V. START A COOPERATION PROGRAM IN NORTHERN IRAQ   
October 13, 2003 – (WADI e.V.) A Finish NGO-Consortium and the German NGO WADI, which is present in the region since 1993, are going to start a close cooperation in Northern Iraq. After several meetings in Suleymaniah and Amman both groups expressed their will to cooperate in order to intensify their activities for the empowerment of women in Northern Iraq, conduct Awareness Courses for Human Rights and operate a Data Base Project, which should serve the European public with the latest developments in Iraq and ease contact to different local NGO's and activists.

NEWS: UPCOMING IRAQI WOMEN’S CONFERENCE, NEW WOMEN’S CENTERS AND ONGOING WORKSHOPS FOR WOMEN
October 3, 2003 – (Information received from Lesley Abdela, Shevolution/Eyecatcher Associates in Iraq) There is a big Women’s Conference in Hilla on 4,5,6,7 October. Paul Bremer (the US Civilian Administrator who runs Iraq) is coming to open it. Women from across the 5 governorates in this region will be there.

News: Rajaa Al-Khuzai: Iraqi Woman of Caliber   
October 1, 2003 – (Middle East Online) Whoever thinks that Iraqi women are always veiled in black, live to raise children and have no professional ambitions or real clout has not met Rajaa al-Khuzai.

News: Veiled and Worried in Baghdad   
September 16, 2003 – (NYT Op-Ed) A single word is on the tight, pencil-lined lips of women here. You'll hear it spoken over lunch at a women's leadership conference in a restaurant off busy Al Nidal Street, in a shade-darkened beauty shop in upscale Mansour, in the ramshackle ghettos of Sadr City. The word is "himaya," or security. With an intensity reminiscent of how they feared Saddam Hussein, women now fear the abduction, rape and murder that have become rampant here since his regime fell. Life for Iraqi women has been reduced to one need that must be met before anything else can happen.

News: Iraqi Women Fight to Redeem the Promise of Freedom   
September 3, 2003 – (Financial Times) In a back room of the Communist party headquarters on Abu Nawas street in Baghdad, members of the party's Women's League are engaged in an animated discussion on what the next edition of their newly launched newspaper, Equality, should include - or at least what else it should include, aside from the group's slogan, pasted on all the pages: "No to the compulsory veil."

News: Women's Literacy and Training Courses in Hawraman Area  
August 30, 2003 – (WADI e.V.) … In April the German NGO WADI, who conducted projects in the area since 1993, started supporting mobile teams consisting of female medical assistants and social workers in the Hawraman area providing basic health services and conducting awareness courses specially for women as well as visiting women in distress. Under the Islamist rule women were suffering heavily from discrimination, oppression and violence. Women had to veil themselves under the 'abaya'. They were barred from education, employment and every social life outside the families. Sometimes they even were prohibited to leave their homes. Still many women in this area are afraid Ansar fighters might come back and take revenge.

Letter to Paul Bremer Denouncing Women’s Abductions in Iraq  
August 24, 2003 – (Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq) “The four months since your troops have taken over in Iraq, proved to have exploded unprecedented violence against women. Hundreds of women endured the pain and suffering of being kidnapped, raped and sometimes sold. This violence is still a daily occurrence, especially in the streets of Baghdad without attracting the least attention of your troops.”

News: Iraq - Modern Women in the New Iraq
August 19, 2003 – (Christian Science Monitor) While the security situation in Iraq remains tense, and women have less and less opportunity to participate in the reconstruction and public life in Iraq as a result of the violence, individual shimmers of hope are visible now and again. Read these stories of four women who are leading lives in public and are courageously trying to restore their home.

News: Iraqi Women Struggle to be Heard   
August 18, 2003 – (BBC) The BBC's Kim Ghattas reports on the impact the continuing insecurity in post-war Iraq is having on women in the country.

News: Women's Rights Become a Struggle in Iraq  
August 13, 2003 - (UPI) Like Saddam Hussein, Yanar Mohammed tries not to sleep every night in the same place."For a different cause," she notes dryly, in the run-down barebones office she borrows from the Worker's Communist Party of Iraq.

News: Iraq's Council  
July 17, 2003 – (NYT Letter to the Editor) By appointing only three women to the 25-member council, the United States has lost a great opportunity to show the Iraqi society that Americans recognize women and men as equal partners in nation-building.

Radio: Involving Iraqi Women in Reconstruction
July 16, 2003 – (BBC Radio 4 – Woman’s Hour) Jenni Murray interviews: Nazaneen Rashid from the Iraqi Refugee Aid Council; Housan Mahmoud from the Iraqi Women's Coalition in London; and Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Minister for Women, who has just returned from a women's conference in Iraq.

Report: Insecurity Driving Women Indoors  
July 16, 2003 – (Human Rights Watch) The insecurity plaguing Baghdad and other Iraqi cities has a distinct and debilitating impact on the daily lives of women and girls, preventing them from participating in public life at a crucial time in their country's history, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. For the full report, click here.

News: Five Women Confront a New Iraq  
July 16, 2003 – (Christian Science Monitor) An unstable postwar Iraq is testing the fortitude of many Iraqis - but the challenges are especially acute for women. While ongoing violence is keeping some women from going out at all, others are pushing their way into the public arena and grasping the opportunity to reshape their country.

Radio: Iraqi Women Shut Out by Fear 
July 16, 2003 – (Radio Netherlands) Iraqi women terrified by the real threat of sexual violence in their chaotic, post-war country are having no input in the reconstruction process, according to a human rights report. With criminals roaming the streets of Baghdad and other cities, and with police refusing to sufficiently address sexual crime, women will remain indoors and unheard in the new Iraq, the report says. For an article by Associated Press on the same issue, click here.

Code Pink Visit to Iraq  
June 29-July 11, 2003
Members of Code Pink are visiting Iraq to investigate the idea of establishing an International Occupation Watch Center in Baghdad. This project is the collaborative effort of an international coalition of peace and justice groups, including United for Peace and Justice. Objectives of the office will include monitoring any changes in the rights and freedoms of Iraqi women and supporting local Iraqi efforts to promote women's rights. For more information about the Occupation Watch Center, visit the new website for the Center at: http://www.occupationwatch.org.

This project is seeking help from the international community to finance, run and disseminate the information from the Center. For information about how to collaborate in this effort, contact info@codepinkalert.org.

We will include more information about the visit as soon as we receive news from Code Pink members in Iraq.

News: Iraqi Women Hold National Forum  
July 10, 2003 – (The Australian) DOZENS of leading Iraqi women met in Baghdad overnight to develop a collective voice for the half of society they say was deeply oppressed during the rule of ousted president Saddam Hussein.

News: Iraqi Women Demand Representation, Rights  
July 10, 2003 – (UN Wire) An Iraqi women's rights group yesterday demanded guarantees from the U.S. administration in Iraq that they be represented in government and freed from social restrictions, Associated Press reported.

News: Iraqi Women Demonstrate in Baghdad  
July 3, 2003 - (UPI) Hundreds of Iraqi women took to Baghdad streets Thursday to demand inclusion in shaping their country's political future.

Radio: Iraqi Women Fight For Voice in New Iraq 
July 3, 2003 – (NPR Morning Edition) Long among the most liberated and professional women in the Middle East, many Iraqi women are now disappearing from public life as postwar lawlessness and the power of conservative Islam rise. Some Iraqi women's organizations are working to ensure women will have a visible role in the new Iraq.

News: Iraqi Women Debate Future Government
July 1, 2003 – (WeNews) Yanar Mohammed came back to her homeland after seven years in exile in Canada for a purpose: to lobby for a pluralistic and secular government that puts women on top of its agenda.

Seminar: `Are Women Included or Excluded in Post-Conflict Reconstruction?'
June 30, 2003, London, England
Eyecatcher Associates/Shevolution and the Centre for Reconciliation and Peace are organizing a seminar discussion on (the scarcity of) women in post-conflict reconstruction in Iraq. The seminar will be chaired by Lesley Abdela of Eyecatcher Associates/Shevolution, and will include the following speakers: Elisabeth Rehn, former UN Under-Secretary General, and co-author of UNIFEM’s Independent Experts’ Assessment on the Impact of Conflict on Women and Women’s Role in Peace-building; Catherine Scott, Asia Programme Manager with Catholic Institute for International Relations and writer on East Timor Affairs; and Dr Rebwar Fatah, Director of KurdishMedia.com. For more information about the meeting, and how to participate, email enquiries@stethelburgas.org or call 020 7638 1440.

For the report from this meeting, see ‘Communique’ under Civil Society-Government Initiatives below.

Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, United States Senate  
June 25, 2003, Zainab Salbi, Women for Women International
Zainab Salbi, Founder and President of Women for Women International, presented her testimony before the Senate based on two fact-finding trips, the most recent in May, as her organization prepares to open an office in Iraq. Her testimony addressed a number of issues, including the security situation, the lack of information available to Iraqis and, in particular, the situation of Iraqi women right now. Salbi placed particular emphasis on women as core participants in the reconstruction process, arguing that they need to be incorporated in all governmental and non-governmental sectors, not limited to a single ministry or sector.

News: Aftermath of War: Women Can Help Win the Peace in Iraq  
June 23, 2003 – (Ambassador Swanee Hunt writes in the San Francisco Chronicle) …Iraqi women have played a crucial role in sustaining their communities over the past two decades of intermittent war. They make up 55 percent of the adult population and are among the more highly skilled and professionally trained women in the Middle East. Nonetheless, they have been nearly excluded from past national leadership, and effectively shut out of current planning meetings. To his credit, Bremer has insisted on adding Iraqi women to his interim advisory council.

Web: Focus on Iraq
Women Waging Peace (WWP), a non-governmental organization initiated to allow women working in conflicts to connect with each other and with “policy shapers,” have devoted a section of their homepage to resources and recent events and initiatives focused on women in Iraq.

Meeting: Iraqi Women’s ‘Tent Meeting’ in Baghdad – IDEA REJECTED BY US
June, 2003, Iraq
We have heard from a representative of the organization Iraqi Women for Peace and Democracy that the plan for a women’s tent meeting, scheduled for late June, was rejected by Paul Bremer III, the US’ civil administration chief. Instead, Bremer’s office will be sponsoring a smaller meeting in July. For more information, see Government Initiatives.

Event and Statement: Founding of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraqi
June 22, 2003, Baghdad
A new Iraqi women’s organization, Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), was founded yesterday in Baghdad. The founding event of OWFI included a reading of the statement of founding, release of the organization’s newspaper, Al Mousawat, celebratory speeches, and a documentary. For a letter from OWFI about the event, click here. For the founding statement, click here.

Memorandum to the International Donors Meeting: Human Rights and Iraq's Reconstruction  
June 20, 2003, Human Rights Watch (HRW)
In their memorandum to the June 24th international donors meeting at the UN, Human Rights Watch called on the participants to ensure the centrality of human rights protection in Iraq's reconstruction and rehabilitation. The memorandum focused on a number of issues, including security sector reform, unexploded ordnances and women. In the section addressing Iraqi women, HRW emphasized the role of donors in incorporating Iraqi women as equal partners in the design and implementation of their projects and programs in all areas, “not just those traditionally considered ‘women's issues.”

News: Women Raise their Voices in New Iraq
June 20, 2003 – (Reuters) Fear of lawlessness has kept many Iraqi women at home since the war to oust Saddam Hussein.

Open Letter to Hillary Clinton: Needs and Roles of Iraqi Women in Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Democracy and Peace-Building  
June 18, 2003, Widows for Peace and Reconstruction, England
Margaret Owen, a member of Widows for Peace and Reconstruction who has been working closely with Iraqi women in exile in the UK, has sent a letter to Senator Hilary Clinton asking her to “investigate what the US administration in Iraq is prepared to do in the context of Security Council 1325, and other human rights treaties and conventions.”

News: Facing the Future
June 17, 2003 – (Washington Post) Since the fall of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Kawkab Jalil has allowed herself some small pleasures. She hennaed her fingertips. She put on makeup and a dress and ventured out to a meeting with other women.

News: Women Excluded from Post-War Reconstruction
June 17, 2003 – (IWPR'S IRAQI CRISIS REPORT) It is, admittedly, early days. But women, who make up an estimated 65 per cent of the Iraqi population, have so far been conspicuous only by their absence in post-war reconstruction efforts.

News: Shi'i Leader Announces Plans for Feminist Organization
June 12, 2003 – (BBC Monitoring – MENA news, Cairo) The Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) said Thursday [12 June] it intends to establish a feminist organization in Iraq for the first time ever with the aim of enhancing the role of women in the Iraqi society.

"The organization is aimed at creating a political atmosphere for Iraqi women, so that they can play their pivotal role in the society alongside men," SCIRI secretary-general Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim said.

News: Planning for Peace in Iraq: Women Wanted
June 8, 2003 – (Herizons – Journal) An international lobby effort is underway to make sure that the needs of Iraqi women and girls are not forgotten in the rebuilding of their country.

News: Iraqi Women Say Leadership Roles Still Eluding Them
June 1, 2003 – (Newhouse News) Rahbiya Momad has lost count of the new political parties vying for power in postwar Iraq. She knows they number in the dozens now, their names and slogans brightly spray-painted on dusty brown buildings once occupied by Saddam Hussein's government.

Letter to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Ministry of Defense (MOD): International Obligations in Iraq on Women’s Human Rights
May 25, 2003, Eyecatcher Associates/Shevolution, England
Tim Symonds, a partner in Eyecatcher Associates/Shevolution, has been circulating materials concerning human rights law to Members of the Commons and Lords, international legal experts, human rights advocates and the FCO and MOD, in regard to international obligations in Iraq on women’s human rights, in particular, their right to be included in the reconstruction process in Iraq.

News: The Women of Kosovo and Afghanistan Urge Iraqi Women to 'Organize and Raise their Voice' During Reconstruction
May 25, 2003 - (US Advocacy Project) 'According to reports, Iraq's women have been apprehensive to emerge in public because of the violence and looting, and support seems to be growing for Islamic fundamentalism in the south. Equally disturbing, the US and British occupation forces appear to have made little effort to appoint specialists in women's affairs or make women's rights a priority in the reconstruction effort. All of this seems ominously familiar to the women of Kosovo and Afghanistan, who have had to fight hard for a seat at the table of reconstruction.'

News: Iraqi Career Women Ponder a Future Under Shiite Rule
May 25, 2003 – (NY Times) Like many Iraqis, Thawra Yousif Jacob has no job these days. But Ms. Jacob, a 43-year-old dancer and theater director, fears that with the empowerment of Shiite clerics in southern Iraq, she may not be able to resume her career.

Open Letter to the Women of Iraq
May 24, 2003, The Afghan Women’s Network (AWN)
“We write this letter in solidarity with our sisters in Iraq, as they face a post-war rebuilding effort similar to the one that has been underway in Afghanistan for the past year and a half. We encourage Iraqi women to have a voice in the process, to make their mark on the future of their country and to secure their freedom and the freedom of their children.”

News: Iraq's Silenced Majority
May 23, 2003 – (NY Times) When I was a schoolgirl in Iraq in the 1980's, April 28 was the day Baath Party officials would round up students and force us to march in rallies celebrating Saddam Hussein's birthday. This year on that date I celebrated at a very different kind of gathering: the United States-organized conference in Baghdad to determine a new government for the liberated Iraq.

Round-Robin: BBC's Coverage of Iraq's Women in and Beyond the Conflict
May 23, 2003 – (Eyecatcher Associates/Shevolution) For journalists who may have taken a kindly interest in my recent critique of a James Naughtie/Richard Armitage interview on BBC Radio 4 Today Programme (repeated on the BBC World Service) which seemed to me deeply uninterested in the aspirations of Iraq's women post-Saddam and in the face of Islamic fundamentalism, may a word go to a British journalist Christina Lamb who wrote as follows in the New Statesman May 19 2003, in a feature titled 'The Real War Heroes.'

Online Discussion: Women In Iraq
May 22, 2003 – (Washington Post) Former Ambassador to Austria Swanee Hunt and founder of Women Waging Peace was online to discuss women's roles in wartime and post-war reconstruction.

News: Iraqi Women Vital to Rebuilding, says Patricia Hewitt
May 22, 2003 - (The Independent) Patricia Hewitt, the Trade and Industry Secretary, is to travel to Baghdad to argue for the full involvement of Iraqi women in the reconstruction of the country. Ms Hewitt expressed concern yesterday that there could be fewer women in Iraq's reconstructed parliament than under Saddam Hussein.

News: Iraq's Hidden Civil Soldiers
May 21, 2003 – (Women Waging Peace) The latest reports from Iraq do not bode well for U.S. civil administrators. Thieves are looting stores, homes and government buildings; snipers are shooting our soldiers. Roaming gangs are terrorizing the country's citizens and malnourished children are playing with abandoned weapons. Angry at the lack of security, not to mention water and food, everyday Iraqis are losing patience. The U.S. liberators are at risk of becoming an occupying army in a hostile land.

News: Activists Tout Kurdish Women's Rights
May 21, 2003 – (Associated Press) Iraqi women are studying the Kurdish-controlled north to see how women there have improved their status in the male-dominated Muslim society.

Statement by the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security to the UN Security Council on The Implementation of and Strict Compliance with UNSC Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in the Case of Iraq
May 20, 2003, NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, USA
The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, a coalition that monitors implementation of Resolution 1325 and advocates for women’s equal participation in peacebuilding and reconstruction efforts, has sent a letter drawing attention to the exclusion of Iraqi women to-date and calling on the Security Council to implement Resolution 1325 in its efforts in Iraq.

Statement: "Please Tell Mr. Bush...": Diaries from Iraq  
May 9-20, 2003, Zainab Salbi, Women for Women International
Zainab Salbi, Founder and President of Women for Women International, has circulated her “diaries” from her recent trip to Iraq, based on interviews with Iraqi women and men, in which she addresses among other issues: the state of schools and education; health; war casualties; political parties and religious extremism; the implications for women; and the American military presence.

TV: Iraqi Women Must Fight for their Rights Now
May 15, 2003 – (BBC TV-Hardtalk) Dr. Shatha Besarani, an Iraqi doctor living in London who founded the Iraqi Women for Peace and Democracy campaign, says women must fight for their rights now or they will never get them. For more information about Dr. Besarani’s discussion with Tim Sebastian of BBC’s Hardtalk, click here.

Memorandum to the UK Government’s International Development Committee Evidence Session on Iraq
May 11, 2003, WILPF UK, England
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, UK Section, submitted this memorandum to the Evidence Session in which they address women’s experiences of the war and their role in Iraq’s future, including relevant clauses from Resolution 1325. Although WILPF UK will not get a chance to speak, they hope the memorandum will be published (Due to Clare Short’s resignation, the Evidence Session has been postponed to June 10th).

News: Where Are Iraq's Women?
May 8, 2003 – (BBC) Iraq, some women fear, is in danger of becoming a man's world. Efforts to establish an interim government that reflects the country's diverse ethnic and religious character are gathering pace. But where are the women - who make up the majority of the population - in this process?

News: Iraqi Women Wary of New Upheavals
May 5, 2003 – (NY Times) It was Friday afternoon and the women in the Nimo Beauty Salon were talking politics. While thousands of people flocked to mosques for prayer services, the women here debated the difficulties of democracy while getting cuts and colors.

News: Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International Granted USAID Contract For Post-War Local Governance Support in Iraq
May 1, 2003 – (RTI) The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded RTI International a contract to provide local governance support in post-war Iraq, which will foster social and political stability by helping meet citizens' basic needs within their communities. For more information about RTI’s "Iraq Sub-National Governance and Civic Institution Support Program” and how they plan on promoting women’s participation (as emphasized in the USAID press release) contact Kathy Pitts at (919) 990-8388, Reid Maness at (919) 541-7044 or email news@rti.org.

News: Focus on Iraqi Women’s Needs
April 30, 2003 – (Refugees International) Women in post-war Iraq will require assistance in three critical areas: reproductive health services, education, and political participation. The United States and international donors must address these challenges quickly in order to give women an opportunity to play an active role in building a new Iraq. Refugees International is concerned that the U.S. government and the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) are not making women's issues a top priority.

News: No Place for a Woman
April 29, 2003 – (The London Times Op-Ed by Leslie Abdela) Just after the liberation of Basra, as I stared at my TV watching the British military commander appoint clerics to help to run Iraq’s second-largest city, I realised that there was something familiar about it all — echoes of Bosnia, Kosovo, Timor, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. I was witnessing the latest rebirth of a nation in which women are being almost completely left out of the new power structures and discussions over the future of their society.

Radio: Iraqi Women in Reconstruction
April 29, 2003 – (BBC Radio 4-Woman’s Hour) Jenni Murray interviewed UK Minister Patricia Hewitt about what the British Government plans to do to encourage the involvement of women in the Iraqi reconstruction.

Panel Discussion: Does the international community leave women in conflict areas in the lurch? What could Denmark do to strengthen women's role in peace building and post-war reconstruction in Iraq?
April 23, 2003, Denmark
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Denmark section, K.U.L.U. – Women and Development and UNDP organized a panel discussion based on the conclusions of UNIFEM’s independent experts’ assessment Women, War and Peace. For information about the event, contact kulu@kulu.dk.

News: Role of Women in New Iraq of Concern
April 22, 2003 - (WeNews) The State Department says the Iraq war was fought in part to improve the lot of women. Yet, experts on the status of women in Iraq are concerned that the relative freedom women enjoyed will be lost as conservatives gain power in the new government.

News: A Woman’s Place in the New Iraq
April 20, 2003 – (Dallas Morning News) Figures draped in drab burkas symbolized the plight of women during the war to liberate Afghanistan from Taliban fundamentalists.

News: Iraqi Women are Conspicuous by their Absence
April 19, 2003 – (Toronto Star) Iraqi women are said to be the most empowered and educated in the Arab world. They are free, unlike their sisters elsewhere, to learn and practice a profession, drive and go forth unveiled.

Letter to Prime Minister Blair
April 17, 2003, WILPF UK, England
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), UK Section sent a letter to Prime Minister Blair about Iraq and Security Council Resolution 1325.

Radio: "Iraqi Women: What Can be Done to Ensure that Iraqi Women are Involved in Post-War Reconstruction?"
April 15, 2003 – (BBC Radio 4- Woman’s Hour) Jenni Murray spoke with Lesley Abdela, who had just returned from Kosovo, about the importance of learning from women's participation there, Dr Shatha Beserani, an Iraqi doctor who's been in exile for 13 years and Shanez Rashid from the Kurdistan Children's Fund.

Letter to President Bush and Prime Minister Blair
April 15, 2003, Women Peacemakers Program, Netherlands
The Women Peacemakers Program (WPP), of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Netherlands sent a letter to President Bush and Prime Minister Blair about the needs of Iraqi women.

Newsletter: A Cautionary Tale from Kosovar Women to Women in Post-War Iraq
April, 2003, Kosova Women's Netowrk (KWN), Kosovo
Members of the Kosova Women's Network sent a letter to Iraqi women, sharing some of their experiences of post-war Kosovo and offering encouragement and strategies for Iraqi women's activism in the current post-war context.

Open Letter From Kurdish Women Action Against Honour Killing on the Participation of Iraqi Women Post-Conflict
March, 2003, Kurdish Women Action Against Honour Killing (KWAHK)
The Kurdish Women Action against Honour Killing (KWAHK) sent an open letter to the UN, the US and the European Union about the marginalisation of women and the need to integrate them in the reconstruction process of a post-Saddam Iraq.

Statement: Establishment of the Iraqi Women’s Rights Coalition
March, 2003, Iraqi Women's Rights Coalition, England
Iraqi women living in the UK founded a network of women’s rights activists and organizations with the goal of influencing the policy-making of the new government in Iraq. For a summary of the aims and activities of the Coalition, click here.

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Action Plan: 'Women and Men Working in Equal Partnership for the Future of Iraq'
April, 2003, London, England
A meeting was held in London with Iraqi women’s organizations from the diaspora, UNIFEM UK, and a number of UK women’s organizations to discuss how to ensure women’s participation in post-conflict reconstruction in Iraq. One outcome of the meeting was this advocacy and action plan.

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NEWS: CONSTITUTION MARKS NEW START FOR IRAQI WOMEN, MINISTER SAYS NEW
March 10, 2004 – (Coalition Provisional Authority Press Releases) The signing of an Iraqi interim constitution March 8 marks the beginning of a new role for women in the country, according to the only woman member of Iraq's cabinet.

NEWS: IRAQ MINISTER CALLS CONSTITUTION A TRIUMPH FOR WOMEN NEW
March 9, 2004 – (UNWire) The Iraqi interim constitution is a victory for women both because of its language and the political activism among females its drafting has inspired, Iraqi Minister for Municipalities and Public Works Nasreen Barwari said yesterday during a luncheon in Washington marking International Women's Day.

NEWS: IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL MAY BE EXPANDED, WOMEN DEMAND MORE VOICE NEW
February 23, 2004 – (Feminist Daily News Wire) Several members of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council stated that they are discussing plans to double the size of the current Governing Council in order to make it more legitimate. According to the New York Times, members of the Council want to reach out to more groups so the Iraqi people are more represented. The Governing Council has 25 members, of which only three are women. In addition, none of the 24 constitutional committee members are women.

NEWS: WOMEN'S RIGHTS CENTER OPENS IN DIWANIYAH: DR. CONDOLEEZZA RICE SENDS TAPED MESSAGE TO THE WOMEN  
January 9, 2004 – (CPA) The Diwaniyah Women's Rights Center opened today. The purpose of the Center is to assist widowed, impoverished, and vulnerable women as they improve their lives and those of their children. The Center will help enable the women to participate in a free, democratic Iraq.

NEWS: IRAQI WOMEN'S GROUP SEEKS TO EMPOWER WOMEN IN NEW IRAQ - GROUP IN MOSUL OFFERS TRAINING AND SOCIAL SUPPORT  
January 6, 2004 – (US Department of State) A group of Iraqi women in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul are seizing the opportunity offered by the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime to address gender issues and work towards creating a new role for women in the future of Iraq.

NEWS: IRAQI WOMEN DISCUSS IMPORTANCE OF THEIR ROLE DURING RECONSTRUCTION: SENIOR WOMEN LEADERS EMPHASIZE SECURITY AS IMPORTANT FACTOR  
November 17, 2003 – (Washington File) Seventeen senior women leaders from Iraq participated in a conference on, "Building a New Iraq: Women's Role in Reconstruction," at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington on November 13. Ambassador Swanee Hunt, founder of Women Waging Peace, introduced the historic panel that included Songul Chapook and Rajaa Khuzai, members of the Iraqi Governing Council, as well as Nassreen Kader and Siham Hamdan, who sit on the Baghdad City Advisory Council.

NEWS: WOMEN FROM IRAQ, OTHER CONFLICT ZONES STAND WITH U.S. CONGRESSWOMEN ON STRONGER ROLE FOR WOMEN IN PEACEKEEPING, RECONSTRUCTION  
November 4, 2003 – (US Newswire) Two prominent Iraqi women from Baghdad, Amal Al-Khedairy and Nermin Al-Mufti will join women from post-conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Liberia and Palestine to stand with US Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and colleagues from the Congressional Women's Caucus at a press conference Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 3 p.m. in Room 1416 of the Longworth House Office Building.

Communique Regarding Women and Participation in Peace Support Operations and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Report from the June 30th Seminar (see ‘Seminar’ in Civil Society Initiatives above)
July 9, 2003, London, England
At this seminar organized by Eyecatcher Associates/Shevolution and the Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, NGO, 42 governmental and independent policy makers and practitioners came together to discuss the participation of women in post-conflict reconstruction. Iraq was one of the principal items discussed, with a focus on the situation of Kurdish women in northern Iraq. In addition to the topic of Iraq, the participants also discussed East Timorese women in post-conflict East Timor, and advocacy and Implementation of Resolution 1325.

A link to the full transcript of the seminar will be added here as soon as it is available.

Meeting: Empowering Women in Iraq: Defining a Blueprint for Moving Forward  
July 8, 2003, Washington DC
Women Waging Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars have organized this meeting to discuss the status of reconstruction and the role of women in the process. The meeting will feature Rend Francke, Executive Director of the Iraq Foundation, who recently returned from Iraq, and Swanee Hunt, Chair of the Hunt Alternatives Fund and Women Waging Peace, who will review the findings from "Winning the Peace: The Women's Role in Post-Conflict Iraq." "Winning the Peace" (see below). For more information and to RSVP, email conflictprevention@wwic.si.edu.

Report: Winning the Peace Conference Report - Women’s Role in Post-Conflict Iraq
June 25, 2003, Women Waging Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
This is the final report of findings from the April meeting in Washington, DC, “Winning the Peace: Women’s Role in Post-Conflict Iraq” (see “Panel and Strategy Session” below).

Findings and Conclusions: Winning the Peace Conference Report - Women’s Role in Post-Conflict Iraq
May 30, 2003, Women Waging Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
The “Findings and Conclusions” of the April meeting in Washington, DC, “Winning the Peace: Women’s Role in Post-Conflict Iraq” (see “Panel and Strategy Session” below), are incorporated in the recently released “Conference Report" (see Report above).

Panel and Strategy Session: Winning the Peace- Women's Role in Post-Conflict Iraq
April 21-2, 2003, Washington, DC
The Woodrow Wilson International Center Conflict Prevention and Middle East Projects and Women Waging Peace organised this meeting for Iraqi women from the diaspora, US policy makers, and international and national NGOs to discuss the role of Iraqi women in transition and post-conflict reconstruction.

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NEWS: LISTENING TO IRAQI WOMEN
November 20, 2003 – (World Bank) A group of 18 Iraqi women convened with World Bank officials last week to provide input to the Iraqi Joint Needs Assessment, a document that outlines Iraq’s urgent needs and sets a blueprint for the way forward.

News: Top UNIFEM Official Warns Women In Iraq Are Intimidated  
September 24, 2003 – (UN Wire) Fearful for their safety and unnerved by last weekend's attack on a high-ranking female official, Iraqi women activists are retreating from the public sphere and choosing to keep their work low-profile, U.N. Development Fund for Women Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer said yesterday.

Meeting: Symposium for Iraqi Women – Opportunity for Iraqi Women to Step Forward and Shape their Future - POSTPONED INDEFINITELY  
August 28-29, 2003, Baghdad, Iraq, UNIFEM Arab States Regional Office and UNDP Baghdad
This symposium is postponed indefinitely as a result of the attack on the UN on August 19th, 2003, and the continuing insecurity.

The plans for the symposium include presentations by consultants, commissioned by UNIFEM, on the status of women in a number of different sectors, including security, education and politics. A principal objective of the symposium is the formulation and endorsement of a new National Strategy for the Advancement of Women. In addition, the symposium aims to support the establishment of a National Network for Iraqi Women.

PeaceWomen will include more information about this meeting as soon as it becomes available.

Meetings: UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Gender in Iraq  
Weekly meetings, Baghdad
UNDP and UNIFEM have convened a Gender Focal Point Task-Force for UN agencies with offices in Iraq that meets weekly to exchange information, share lessons learned and identify joint initiatives to address gender issues in Iraq. International gender-focused NGOs are invited to participate in the meetings once a month.

One of the tasks of the Gender Task-force will be to support the coordinator of the UN Development Group (UNDG) to ensure that the UNDG assessment missions fully incorporate gender as a cross-cutting issue.

PeaceWomen will include more information about these meetings as soon as it becomes available.

UN Development Group (UNDG) – World Bank Needs Assessment Missions 
Ongoing - End date: the October Donor Conference in Spain
The UN is organizing missions to Iraq, in collaboration with the World Bank, to assess 14 different sectors, including health, infrastructure, governance and investment. Gender is one of four cross-cutting themes (with environment, human rights, and capacity analysis of government and civil society).

PeaceWomen will include updates about the gender component of these missions as information becomes available.

Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraph 24 of Security Council resolution 1483 (2003)  
July 17, 2003, UN Secretary-General
Adopted during the July 22 Security Council open session on Iraq
In the Secretary-General’s first report to the Security Council on the work of SRSG Mr. Vieira de Mello in Iraq, he briefly outlines the current situation of Iraqi women in post-conflict Iraq, the UN’s position on Iraqi women’s rights and status, and the UN’s efforts to-date to include women and mainstream gender in its work in Iraq.

In the report, the Secretary-General emphasizes the importance of the role to be played by Iraqi women in reconstruction. He identifies Iraqi women as a “powerful force for peace, reconciliation and stability, who should be empowered and afforded the opportunity of playing their rightful political, economic and social role.”

While praising the SRSG’s efforts to advocate for the inclusion of women in the reconstruction efforts and post-conflict political processes, the Secretary-General also notes that the UN needs to improve its outreach to Iraqi women, since up until now, many of the UN’s meetings have included only a small representation of Iraqi women.

Report: UNIFEM Assessment Mission Report on Iraq  
July, 2003, UNIFEM
(UNIFEM Assessment Mission, June 15-19, Iraq)
A UNIFEM assessment team visited Iraq from June 15 to 19th to establish contacts with Iraqi women's groups, government agencies, UN agencies and NGOs, to identify women's resources and their priority needs, and to lay the groundwork for a national symposium of Iraqi women, scheduled for late August in Baghdad. The report, recently released, includes UNIFEM’s key findings and recommendations and addresses the status of implementation of Resolution 1325 in Iraq.

News: Senior UN Official Urges Donors to Include Iraqi Women in Reconstruction Efforts
June 26, 2003 – (UN) As donor countries prepare for a reconstruction conference for Iraq this autumn, a senior United Nations official today urged for the inclusion of a strong gender dimension to ensure that outcomes reflect the concerns of both men and women.

Meeting: Information-Sharing Session on Women’s Role in Post-Conflict Iraq
June 26, 2003, UN, New York
In this meeting hosted by UNIFEM, representatives of Women Waging Peace (WWP) will talk about the findings in their report, ‘Winning the Peace: Women’s Role in Post-Conflict Iraq,” co-produced by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (see Civil Society-Government Initiatives). In addition, UNIFEM will report on its recent assessment mission to Iraq, and discuss its upcoming initiatives in Iraq, including the organization of a national symposium and the establishment of a national network of women groups.

See above News item for coverage of the meeting.

News: Dialogue with Iraqi Women a UN Priority
June 23, 2003 – (UN News Excerpt) Mr. da Silva said that under the leadership of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello, “the major challenge faced by the United Nations is to interpret the aspirations of the Iraqi people and respond to these needs.”

“We will intensify efforts to ensure a quality dialogue, while [Mr. Vieira de Mello] continues contact with a wide variety of Iraqi leaders,” he added, especially with Iraqi women. “We are proposing in the appeal a project to strengthen the UN’s approach to gender equity,” he said. “Dialogue with Iraqi women will be given priority in the months ahead, particularly due to the visible erosion of gains of the past.” For the full article, ‘UN urges donors to make up shortfall in humanitarian appeal for Iraq,’ click here.

Checklist of Key Gender Dimensions for Iraq by Sector
June, 2003, Compiled by UNIFEM
The UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has compiled this Checklist, from various UN and non-UN sources, for those participating in assessment and fact-finding missions in Iraq. The objective of the Checklist is to ensure that “the gender components of all elements of the peace-building and recovery process are identified and mainstreamed into planning procedures and programme implementation.”

News: Annan Introduces UN Human Rights Chief as Special Representative for Iraq
May 27, 2003 – (UN Press Conference Transcript) When Secretary-General Annan introduced Sergio Vieira de Mello as the new Special Representative for Iraq during yesterday’s press conference, both the new SRSG and the Secretary-General made brief comments about the importance of ensuring the human rights of Iraqi women.

PeaceWomen has heard that the new UN Special Representative for Iraq will have a gender advisor on his team when he goes to Iraq, however, there has been no additional information circulated.

Security Council Resolution 1483 on the situation between Iraq and Kuwait
May 22, 2003, Security Council
In the fifth preambular paragraph of UNSC Resolution 1483, the Security Council, in encouraging efforts by the Iraqi people to form a “representative government based on the rule of law that affords equal rights and justice to all Iraqi citizens without regard to ethnicity, religion or gender,” recalls Security Council Resolution 1325.

News: For Iraq, Women are Key
April 19, 2003 – (Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of UNIFEM, in the International Herald Tribune) As Iraqis meet to talk about creating an interim authority to govern their country, they will need to overcome divisive ethnic, religious, tribal and political barriers. Experience elsewhere shows that one sure way to achieve the necessary consensus and compromise is to involve women extensively. Women have the collaborative outlook needed to deal with Iraqi society's complexities and the pragmatic organizing expertise needed to cut through the current chaos.

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6 WOMEN APPOINTED AS CABINET MINISTERS TO NEW IRAQI INTERIM GOVERNMENT, INCLUDING ESTABLISHMENT OF A MINISTRY FOR WOMEN  NEW
(as of 1 June 2004)
Minister of Agriculture: Dr. Sawsan Ali Magid Al-Sharifi
Minister of Displacement and Migration: Ms. Pascale Isho Warda
Minister of Environment: Professor Mishkat Moumin
Minister of Labor and Social Affairs: Ms. Leyla Abdul Latif
Minister of Public Works: Ms. Nasreen Mustapha Berwari
Minister of State for Women: Ms. Narmin Othman

From the Iraqi Interim Government press packet (information regarding the framework, key dates, and biographical sketches of the cabinet)

NEWS: ONLY SIX WOMEN APPOINTED TO IRAQI INTERIM GOVERNMENT  NEW
June 3, 2004 - (Feminist Daily News Wire) Iraq's newly appointed Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, earlier this week announced the names of the US-backed interim government that will begin June 30. The new government includes 33 ministers, of whom only six are women, making up 18 percent of Iraq’s caretaker government. Iraq’s Transitional Administration Law (TAL), however, has established a target of 25 percent of the seats for women in the interim assembly after extensive efforts made by Iraqi women, who mobilized and spearheaded a national drive to have at least 40 percent representation in decision-making bodies in Iraq.

Information: Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Gender Focal Points  
PeaceWomen has been informed that under the Coalition Provisional Authority, the US and UK have three women acting as Gender Focal Points in Iraq. PeaceWomen has not yet located their contact information or any information about their specific activities. We will include more information as soon as it becomes available.

NEWS: RECONSTRUCTION: U.S. ENVOY PROMOTES ROLE OF IRAQI WOMEN  
February 17, 2004 – (NYT) L. Paul Bremer III, the chief American administrator in Iraq, dropped into this holy city on Monday to give the revolution a gentle nudge.

NEWS: IRAQ DRAFT CONSTITUTION CALLS FOR 40 PERCENT WOMEN IN ASSEMBLY
February 2, 2004 - (Feminist Daily News Wire) Members of the United States-appointed Iraqi Governing Council started debating a proposed constitution for Iraq's interim government. According to the Washington Post, the plan calls for a three-member presidency and for at least 40 percent of the assembly and constitutional convention to be women.

NEWS: FEMALE US CABINET OFFICIAL MEETS IRAQI WOMEN FEARFUL FOR THEIR FUTURES   
February 2, 2004 - (IPPF News) Under Sadam Hussein Iraqi Women did enjoy a modicum of rights; however there are fears that they will be lost in the post war regime. A visit from a female US Cabinet Official has done little to assuage their fears.

LETTER FROM MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO PRESIDENT BUSH CONCERNING IRAQI WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND RESOLUTION 137 (PDF)  
February 2, 2004
“We are writing to you to express our strong opposition to the recent resolution passed by the Iraqi Governing Council to “cancel” certain laws that protect women and to place them under the jurisdiction of Islamic law or “Sharia.” The letter is signed by 45 members of Congress. In the letter, the signatories also requested a meeting with President Bush to discuss the issues further.

NEWS: WOMEN ENCOURAGED TO JOIN POLITICS  
December 4, 2003 - (IRIN) It would be a tragedy if women in Iraq’s male-dominated society did not get more involved in forming a new government and in public life, a British human rights advocate told reporters during a recent visit to the capital, Baghdad.

OPINION: IRAQ'S HIDDEN TREASURE  
December 3, 2003 – (NYT Op-Ed by Governing Council members Raja Habib Khuzai and Songul Chapouk) Iraq has many capable women ready to lead the country toward democracy. Yet women are severely underrepresented in the leadership established for the transition. As plans for a new governing structure are developed, the Iraqi Governing Council and the Coalition Provisional Authority should ensure women their rightful place at the decision-making table.

NEWS: LISTENING TO IRAQI WOMEN  
November 20, 2003 – (World Bank) A group of 18 Iraqi women convened with World Bank officials last week to provide input to the Iraqi Joint Needs Assessment, a document that outlines Iraq’s urgent needs and sets a blueprint for the way forward.

AUDIO, VISUAL: PRESIDENT BUSH MEETS WITH IRAQI WOMEN LEADERS  
November 17, 2003 – (Office of the Press Secretary) Remarks of the President in Photo Opportunity with Members of the Governing Council of Iraq and Members of the Baghdad City Advisory Council.

NEWS: IRAQI WOMEN LEADERS COME TO WASHINGTON NOVEMBER 13-20  
November 2003 – (US Government) A delegation of 18 Iraqi women leaders came to Washington, DC November 9-19 to convey to U.S. policymakers and the American public their gratitude to the United States for liberating them from a brutal dictator. In a Nov. 17 meeting with President Bush, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, Songul Chapouk, asked President Bush, “…[do] not leave us, please, at this time…Iraqi people like your forces. Thank you very much [for liberating us].” [Department of State photo]

NEWS: WOMEN HAVE IMPORTANT ROLE IN PEACE EFFORTS, U.S. SAYS: U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL REVIEWS PROGRESS ON ADDRESSING WOMEN'S SECURITY ISSUES  
November 10, 2003 – (Washington File) The United States places great emphasis on the role of women in resolving conflicts and building peace, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte says. "No approach to peace can succeed if it does not view men and women as equally important components of the solution," he says.

NEWS - PRYCE: IRAQI WOMEN ARE PROUD, CAPABLE AND EMPOWERED - MEMBERS SHARE FIRST-HAND STORIES OF SUCCESS AND NEWFOUND OPPORTUNITY  
October 29, 2003 – (Office of Congresswoman Deborah Pryce, R- Ohio 15th) House Republican Conference Chair Deborah Pryce hosted a press conference today with other female members of Congress to discuss their recent bipartisan CODEL to Iraq that focused on encouraging the role of women in the new Iraqi government and society.

NEWS: UK TO FUND WOMEN'S COUNCIL IN IRAQ  
October 17, 2003 – (The Guardian) Britain is to help fund an Iraqi women's higher council which would advise the incoming government on how to improve the lot of 55% of its population.

RULING COUNCIL SEEKS BEST OF BOTH WORLDS  
October 10, 2003 – (IWPR'S IRAQI CRISIS REPORT, No. 31) The Shia woman tipped as favourite to join Governing Council fits the bill because she combines a local power base with an international profile.

News: Upcoming Iraqi Women’s Conference, New Women’s Centers and Ongoing Workshops for Women   
October 3, 2003 – (Information received from Lesley Abdela, Shevolution/Eyecatcher Associates in Iraq) There is a big Women’s Conference in Hilla on 4,5,6,7 October. Paul Bremer (the US Civilian Administrator who runs Iraq) is coming to open it. Women from across the 5 governorates in this region will be there.

Event: Public Hearing on “Iraqi Women”  
October 1, 2003, Brussels
The European Parliamentary Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities is organizing a public hearing on Iraqi Women. The hearing will include remarks by the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities, a statement by a UN representative, and presentations by a number of Iraqi women. The speeches made at the hearing will all be posted at: http://www.europarl.eu.int/committees/femm_home.htm

News: Woman Member of Iraqi Governing Council Meets US Lawmakers in Washington  
September 24, 2003 – (Voice of America) Two members of the cabinet appointed by Iraq's Governing Council have been making the rounds in Washington, meeting with members of Congress, U.S. officials, and the media. One of them, the only woman serving in the Iraqi cabinet, spent time Wednesday with a group of U.S. congresswomen.

1 OF IRAQ’S NEW 25-MEMBER CABINET IS A WOMAN
(September 1, 2003, Iraq)
Nisrin Barwari, Kurd, Minister of Public Works

Fact Sheet: U.S. Policy on Iraqi Women's Political, Economic, and Social Participation  
July 17, 2003, Office of International Women's Issues, US State Department
The Office of International Women's Issues in the US State Department has compiled a fact sheet which includes the US government’s actions to-date addressing Iraqi women participation in reconstruction as well as the CPA’s ongoing actions to address the issue.

News: Three Women Named to Iraq's Governing Council  
July 14, 2003 – (Feminist Daily News Wire) A 25-member "governing council" made up of Iraqis that will share power with US occupation leaders was announced this weekend. The members of the council, of which only three are women, are from diverse ethnic, political, and religious backgrounds - including Muslim clerics, social activists, former exiles, tribal leaders, lawyers and physicians. The council will work on issues such as the operation of ministries, the appointment of diplomats, the constitution, and the budget. However, all final decision will be under L. Paul Bremer, the US civilian administrator in Iraq.

3 OF IRAQ’S NEW 25-MEMBER GOVERNING COUNCIL ARE WOMEN  
(July 13, 2003, Iraq)
Songul Chapouk, Head of Iraqi Women’s Organization (IWO)
Raja Habib Khuzai, Head of maternity hospital in Diwaniya
Akila al-Hashimi, Diplomat, former Ministry of Foreign Affairs official– died, September 25, 2003, from wounds sustained during an assassination attempt on September 20, 2003.

Radio: Iraqi Women Hold a Conference in Baghdad
July 10, 2003 – (BBC Monitoring – Al-Ta’akhi, Baghdad) Under the direct auspices of the coalition forces, an Iraqi women's conference was held on Tuesday [8 July] at the Conference Hall in Baghdad. More than 70 well-educated women drawn from various religions, ethnic minorities and groups, economic and legal backgrounds participated in the conference. The Secretary of Kurdistan Women Union Shireen Amedi attended the meeting.

US-Sponsored Meeting for Iraqi Women  
July 9, 2003, Iraq
PeaceWomen has been informed from one of our Iraqi contacts that after rejecting the plan for a large women’s tent meeting in late June, the US is instead sponsoring a smaller meeting of 60-80 women. The meeting will be divided into 5 workshops on the following issues: constitution; education; health; economy; and law.

We will include more information about this meeting as soon as it becomes available.

News: Women Are Crucial to Iraq Peacemaking 
July 9, 2003 – (WeNews Commentary by Congresswoman Eddie B. Johnson) Since September 11, Dallas Congresswoman Johnson has pursued the motto "no women, no peace," by introducing two resolutions to bring more women into the peacemaking arena and forming an organization to do the same.

News: Standing up for Iraqi Women  
July 2, 2003 – (The Washington Post, Op-Ed by Paula J. Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs) Elizabeth Goitein's May 24 op-ed, "Stand Up for Iraqi Women," unfairly criticized the Bush administration for paying insufficient attention to the situation of women in Iraq. In fact, we are doing exactly what the headline on her article called for. Indeed, the commitment of the United States to the human rights of Iraq's women is unshakable and manifested clearly by our activities on the ground as well as our policy statements. Equally important, our efforts are appropriately guided by the Iraqi women themselves.

In her op-ed, Dobriansky outlines a number of current concrete initiatives by the US to address Iraqi women’s participation in reconstruction. PeaceWomen has drawn from Dobriansky’s op-ed to highlight a few of these initiatives below:

-L. Paul Bremer is “meeting with Iraqi women to hear firsthand their advice and guidance on the rebuilding of their country;”
-Bremer has “designated a senior official from his democracy and governance team to strengthen women's participation throughout a reconstituted Iraqi government;”
-Paula Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, has “appointed an Arabic-speaking expert in the State Department's Office of International Women's Issues to monitor the efforts on the ground and to establish a structure for mobilizing U.S. private-sector support for democracy initiatives that promote women's issues.”

Letter to Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Graham: Canada Needs to take a “Clear and Consistent Position to Ensure Respect for Women’s Rights in Iraq
June 24, 2003, Gender and Peacebuilding Working Group, Canadian Peacebuilding Coordinating Committee, Canada (CPCC)
The Gender and Peacebuilding Working Group of the CPCC has sent a letter to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs urging the government “ to take a clear and consistent position to ensure respect for women’s rights in Iraq.” In particular, the Working Group urges the government to put its commitments, such as Resolution 1325, into action in the case of Iraq.

News: Hobson Sponsors Legislation Supporting the Women of Iraq  
May 23, 2003 – U.S. Rep. Dave Hobson (R-Springfield) announced today that he and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) have introduced legislation (see below) urging the federal government to provide assistance to the women of Iraq.

To read US House Concurrent Resolution 196 on Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States should provide assistance for women and women's organizations in Iraq in order to strengthen and stabilize the emerging Iraqi democracy, click here.

News: Boxer, Reid Demand Women Be Involved in Iraq Reconstruction
May 21, 2003 – (Feminist Daily News Wire) Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Harry Reid (D-NV) have called upon the Bush administration to include women in leadership roles in the reconstruction of Iraq.

Meeting: UK Foreign Office Minister Mike O’Brien Met with Muslim Organizations, Including Muslim Women
May 14, 2003, London, England
“When I visited Iraq recently I pressed for a key role for women in the emerging Iraqi administration. We are looking at the possibility of organising a separate Iraqi women's conference. I will want to hear the views of the women of the An-Nisa Society on this important issue.”

House of Lords Address Iraqi Women’ Participation
May 13, 2003, London, England
“My right honourable friend the Minister for Women has met and will continue to meet Iraqi women from a variety of different political and civic groups in this country. A gender expert from the Women and Equality Unit is being seconded to ORHA, and the new UK-funded TV channel in Iraq will shortly begin broadcasting programmes to encourage women to participate in civic and political life in Iraq.”

Statement from Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage on the Representation and Participation of Iraqi Women in Post-Conflict Reconstruction
May 7 - (BBC Radio 4 Interview)In this BBC interview, Armitage made a brief comment about the “need to have even higher levels of participation of women in this process."

News: Iraqi Women Tell Secretary Powell They Want a Voice in Iraq's Rebirth
April 25, 2003 – (State Department) Iraqi women, who constitute at least fifty-five percent of their country's population, want a voice in its rebirth following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. This message was strongly conveyed by six women in their April 23 meetings at the State Department with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky.

Meeting: Secretary of State Powell Met Iraqi Women
April 23, 2003, Washington, DC
State Department event summary: Secretary Powell met with several Iraqi women activists on April 23 in the Department of State, Washington DC. The women briefed the Secretary on the most critical needs for women and children in liberated Iraq. With the Secretary and later on the same day in an expanded meeting hosted by Under Secretary for Global Affairs, Paula Dobriansky, with the representatives of interested NGOs, Human Rights organizations and USG officials, the women asked that priority be given to restore the educational sector, and to improve health care and social services for women and children, to foster political participation by women through training and exchanges, judicial and legal reform and human rights guarantees.

Letter to General Jay Garner
April 15, 2003, London, England
Joan Ruddock, Labour MP, sent a letter to General Garner urging the involvement of women in talks on post-conflict Iraq.

Press Release: USAID Awards Iraq Local Governance Contract
April 11, 2003 – (USAID) The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) today announced an initial $7.9 million award to the North Carolina-based Research Triangle Institute (RTI) to promote Iraqi participation in Iraq's post-conflict reconstruction. Providing the people of Iraq, and in particular women, the opportunity to participate in public decision-making and stimulate local initiatives is a key component of the U.S. government's assistance program for Iraq.

Presentation: Women and the Transition to Democracy: Iraq, Afghanistan, Beyond
April 11, 2003, Washington, DC
Paula J. Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs in the State Department spoke at the Heritage Foundation.

News: Involve Women in Iraq Reconstruction
April 10, 2003 - (News Release - Office of Joan Ruddock, Labour MP)“Many reports are circulating in the media about people being appointed by both the United States and by Britain to “run” post-conflict Iraq - all but one of the people named are men.”