32 cases of femicide in Iranian Kurdistan in 2021

Femicide, or murder of women, is unfortunately an all too familiar phenomenon in Kurdistan. Despite various legislations and criminal approaches, in 2021 the number of murders of Kurdish women in Iran, Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan is again steadily increasing.

Turkey

Hundreds of women were killed in Turkey in 2021, the same year Ankara officially withdrew from an international treaty for combatting violence against women, a media outlet reported late Wednesday.

At least 342 women were killed over the past year, an estimated increase of 40 murders compared to 2020, the independent Turkish news outlet Bianet said in a recent report.

Thirty four women were killed in December alone, with Antalya province seeing the highest number of murders, it added.

The rise in femicide in Turkey comes as Turkey officially quit the Istanbul Convention in July last year. The landmark agreement, signed by 45 countries and the European Union, requires governments to adopt legislation prosecuting domestic violence and gender-based abuse as well as marital rape and female genital mutilation.

Conservatives within Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party pushed for the withdrawal, claiming the convention damaged family unity, promoted divorce and acceptance of the LGBT community.

Among the December murders is one of a trans woman, Bianet noted.

However, a Turkish monitoring group, the We Will Stop Femicide Platform, raised the toll of murdered women in Turkey to 497 in a report published on Tuesday.

Iraqi Kurdistan

According to the data obtained by IKHRW, in the first half of 2021, 8 women were killed by their relatives, 34 women committed suicide, 48 women set fire to themselves, 55 were sexually harassed, and 5079 complaints were registered by women.

Between 2012 and 2021 – only nine and half years – 4414 incidents of violence against women have been recorded which include femicide, suicide, burning, self-immolation and sexual harrasement. During that period, 939 women have been killed or committed suicide. Also, 1075 sexual harassment and assault cases have been recored by the Directorate for Combating Violence Against Family and Women. Furthermore, tens of thousands of complaints have been made to the same directorate.

This has been happening while the Iraqi Kurdistan region’s government (KRG) officials promise to combat violence against women every year.

Iranian Kurdistan

In 2021, at least 32 cases of femicide were registered in Iranian Kurdistan. These murders were generally committed by the men in the family for various reasons.

Full list of women that were murdered in Iranian Kurdistan in 2021