Addressing the Taboo of Sexual Violence
In Iraq as well as numerous other countries in the region, that the crime of honor killing is pervasive, and often stigmatizes and penalizes women for coming forward as victims of rape. Honor crimes are acts of violence perpetuated against individuals, usually women, by male members of their community in order to restore family honor. If a woman is raped, instead of receiving help she often becomes a double victim. She may be ostracized by her family, or worse, killed, and the stigma against reporting any form of sex crime in Iraq is exacerbated and perpetuated by Iraqi laws.
The Iraqi penal code does not condemn the killing of rape victims by their own families. The cultural and historic shame associated with sex crimes that puts the victims in danger from their own families was legitimized by the 1969 Penal Code provisions that mitigate sentences for honor killings. Saddam Hussein Revolutionary Command Council Order Number 6 of 2001 considers the "killing of one's wife or a close female relative (muharam) for honor reasons a mitigating factor under law," and essentially condones the practice. The reduced penalty under this clause for the murder of a woman is one year, and in some cases can be reduced to a mere six months imprisonment. This is, quite clearly, a serious impediment to women coming forward about crimes that have been committed against them, and is an obvious barrier to obtaining justice.
The Iraqi High Tribunal can be part of addressing this situation and creating long-term systematic change around sexual violence-both in Iraq and throughout the region. The Iraqi Tribunal statute calls for special protections for victims of sexual assault, but thus no support services or protections are in place for witnesses. Using the Tribunal to set the example by openly addressing the problem would be a beginning to brining these topics into the mainstream conversation and developing realistic solutions.