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MADRE's Sister Organization in Iraq

The Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq

The Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) is fighting for women's human rights in an Iraq torn apart by US military occupation and rising Islamic fundamentalism. OWFI calls for an immediate end to US military occupation and the establishment of a free and secular state in Iraq.

OWFI is working to provide a sanctuary from violence for Iraqi women, who cite the lack of personal security as the largest problem they face in post-invasion Iraq. Rape has dramatically increased in the social chaos following the US invasion. In the first four months of occupation, OWFI collected 400 accounts of rape and abduction. 'Honor killings' of rape survivors by male family members have increased as the incidence of rape has risen. In response, OWFI has established five women's shelters—in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Erbil, and Nasariyeh—to provide Iraqi women with a place to turn for security and support.

Despite the grim political realities they face, the women of OWFI are hopeful. OWFI's founding statement declares: "There is a huge emancipatory and secular force in this society that aims at achieving freedom and a better life for women . . . Women in Iraq deserve another kind of life; one that is full of freedom, equality and prosperity." OWFI has organized demonstrations to protest the attempted dismantling of women's rights by US-appointed reactionary clerics and has called for the inclusion of progressive women's groups in any new Iraqi government. Yanar Mohammed, the founder of OWFI, has received death threats from fundamentalist Islamic groups for her work to further women's human rights. But she continues to fight publicly against both the US occupation and Islamic fundamentalism, and to encourage and empower other women to do the same.

"Either we organize and demand our social and political freedoms," Mohammed declares, "or we give way to a theocracy and the institutionalized, legalized oppression of women in Iraq."

Click here to see a recent clip of Mohammed on CNN.

Click here to read OWFI's Activities Report for the Summer of 2007.