Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Iraq: Responses and Reparations

This event launched the paper “Response to and Reparations for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Iraq: The Case of Shi’a Turkmen Survivors in Tel Afar” published under the LSE Conflict Research Programme by Principal Investigator Güley Bor. During the most recent Islamic State conflict, thousands of Yazidi, and hundreds of Shi’a Turkmen and Christian women were kidnapped and subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). The situation of Shi’a Turkmen survivors of CRSV in Tel Afar in the Nineveh Governorate demonstrates how the Government of Iraq’s inaction, together with its discriminatory laws and practices, continue to fail women, and survivors in particular. Recent efforts to establish a reparations program are commendable, yet challenges remain. Iraq is in urgent need of wider reform in addressing sexual violence and ensuring its non-repetition. Given the emergency nature of CRSV, this paper explores the need for all survivors in Iraq to be provided with timely, comprehensive and survivor-centric medical, psychosocial, legal and economic responses. The paper itself includes recommendations for a complex reparation program designed and implemented through effective survivor consultation that should be established to address the psychological, physical and social harms arising from CRSV. Güley Bor is an international lawyer, researcher and consultant with a focus on transitional justice, human rights and gender in Iraq and Turkey. Previously, she managed the Yazidi Genocide Documentation Project of Yazda in Duhok, Kurdistan Region of Iraq as a Harvard Law School Satter Human Rights Fellow. She also authored Yazda’s second mass graves report entitled Working Against the Clock: Documenting Mass Graves of Yazidis Killed by the Islamic State. Dr Ali Akram al-Bayati is a neurologist and the founder and president of Turkmen Rescue Foundation, an NGO dedicated to defending human rights of minorities in Iraq, particularly the Turkmen. He is also a member of the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, Iraq's national human rights institution. Dr Jessica Watkins is a Research Officer at the Middle East Centre, currently working on a DFID-funded project looking at regional drivers of conflict in Iraq and Syria. Her PhD at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, was on policing and dispute management in Jordan. Join the conversation on Twitter using #LSEIraq