IRAQ UPDATE: 11-20 August 2008
September 5th, 2008
in:
CPTnet
5 September 2008
IRAQ UPDATE: 11-20 August 2008
Members of the Iraq team during this period included Peggy Gish, Joe Mueller, Garland Robertson, and Chihchun Yuan, along with a six-person delegation.
Monday, 11 August
Yuan and Gish met with the director of the Kurdistan Women’s Union. She had collected the names and contact information of women and children in an area of Suleimaniya who needed medical treatment and asked if CPT could help put her in contact with organizations who might be able to provide for medical care here or abroad. Yuan said that the groups offering this kind of help can assist only a small number of persons, so suggested the director go with the people who need help to talk to the government officials responsible for meeting these needs.
Thursday, 14 August
In Erbil, the team met with a member of the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Parliament) and members of the Women’s Affairs Committee who spoke about their efforts to change KRG laws to support the rights of and reduce violence against women. CPTers expressed their concerns about the border bombing and lDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) and showed computer pictures of the people of the Zharawa camp. Referring to the US’s role in Iraq, the Parliamentarian responded, “The US has had a negative influence in this region. I wanted a change of the Saddam regime, but I was also against the war…. Your country should put pressure on Turkey and Iran to stop the bombing. We need to see the children of these villages along the border-and not call them terrorists.”
Later, two leaders of the Zharawa IDP Camp and CPTers met with a U.S. Provincial Action Officer for Erbil and told her about the bombing of their village, life in the camp, and needs for more substantial housing for the winter if it is not safe to go back to their villages. One of the men said that the bombing does not hurt the rebel groups in the mountains. “We are the only losers,” he told the visitors. CPTers spoke about the anger they had heard expressed by Kurdish people toward the U.S. government for allowing Turkey to fly over Iraqi airspace to bomb villages along the Iraq-Iran border and for giving Turkey intelligence information for use in the Turkish bombing raids. The officer said she has also heard about this anger. She said she would send a report of this meeting to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and in the U.S. and will consult with Kurdish government officials about supplying the IDPs with what they need for winter.
Yuan and Robertson went to the textile museum in Erbil and watched an older woman teach younger women and a man to weave rugs using traditional methods and patters.
Sunday, 17 August
Robertson, Yuan and Gish went to visit the women’s prison for the Suleimaniya Governorate with a member of the Kurdistan Human Rights Watch, who visits the prison regularly to work with a rehabilitation program. Most of the twenty-one women imprisoned (ages 16-45) are there with life sentences for committing murder of their husbands or cousins who had control over their lives. The manager said that when the women are tried for the crime the state assigns them a lawyer and their case is reviewed periodically.
The prison provides literacy and vocational training. The women can earn some money by working at jobs inside the prison, such as preparing food, or sewing items for sale. During the day, prisoners are able to move around the areas inside the locked doors, and use a library, kitchen, and workshop. While there, CPTers saw families visiting prisoners and having picnics with them out in a courtyard.
Later team members met with members of several organizations committed to nonviolence (people who were part of the team’s training of trainers) to discuss the future work of the team and possibilities for working together. Their suggestions were mostly related to expanding nonviolence trainings or helping them find nonviolence materials written in Kurdish or Arabic. They also were hoping that CPTers could help them find donors to fund their projects so they could remain independent of the political parties.
Monday and Tuesday, 18-19 August
The team prepared to close the project for two months.
Wednesday, 20 August
The team left Suleimaniya and flew to Amman, starting a two-month absence with plans for a four-person team to return in October.
5 September 2008
IRAQ UPDATE: 11-20 August 2008
Members of the Iraq team during this period included Peggy Gish, Joe Mueller, Garland Robertson, and Chihchun Yuan, along with a six-person delegation.
Monday, 11 August
Yuan and Gish met with the director of the Kurdistan Women’s Union. She had collected the names and contact information of women and children in an area of Suleimaniya who needed medical treatment and asked if CPT could help put her in contact with organizations who might be able to provide for medical care here or abroad. Yuan said that the groups offering this kind of help can assist only a small number of persons, so suggested the director go with the people who need help to talk to the government officials responsible for meeting these needs.
Thursday, 14 August
In Erbil, the team met with a member of the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Parliament) and members of the Women’s Affairs Committee who spoke about their efforts to change KRG laws to support the rights of and reduce violence against women. CPTers expressed their concerns about the border bombing and lDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) and showed computer pictures of the people of the Zharawa camp. Referring to the US’s role in Iraq, the Parliamentarian responded, “The US has had a negative influence in this region. I wanted a change of the Saddam regime, but I was also against the war…. Your country should put pressure on Turkey and Iran to stop the bombing. We need to see the children of these villages along the border-and not call them terrorists.”
Later, two leaders of the Zharawa IDP Camp and CPTers met with a U.S. Provincial Action Officer for Erbil and told her about the bombing of their village, life in the camp, and needs for more substantial housing for the winter if it is not safe to go back to their villages. One of the men said that the bombing does not hurt the rebel groups in the mountains. “We are the only losers,” he told the visitors. CPTers spoke about the anger they had heard expressed by Kurdish people toward the U.S. government for allowing Turkey to fly over Iraqi airspace to bomb villages along the Iraq-Iran border and for giving Turkey intelligence information for use in the Turkish bombing raids. The officer said she has also heard about this anger. She said she would send a report of this meeting to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and in the U.S. and will consult with Kurdish government officials about supplying the IDPs with what they need for winter.
Yuan and Robertson went to the textile museum in Erbil and watched an older woman teach younger women and a man to weave rugs using traditional methods and patters.
Sunday, 17 August
Robertson, Yuan and Gish went to visit the women’s prison for the Suleimaniya Governorate with a member of the Kurdistan Human Rights Watch, who visits the prison regularly to work with a rehabilitation program. Most of the twenty-one women imprisoned (ages 16-45) are there with life sentences for committing murder of their husbands or cousins who had control over their lives. The manager said that when the women are tried for the crime the state assigns them a lawyer and their case is reviewed periodically.
The prison provides literacy and vocational training. The women can earn some money by working at jobs inside the prison, such as preparing food, or sewing items for sale. During the day, prisoners are able to move around the areas inside the locked doors, and use a library, kitchen, and workshop. While there, CPTers saw families visiting prisoners and having picnics with them out in a courtyard.
Later team members met with members of several organizations committed to nonviolence (people who were part of the team’s training of trainers) to discuss the future work of the team and possibilities for working together. Their suggestions were mostly related to expanding nonviolence trainings or helping them find nonviolence materials written in Kurdish or Arabic. They also were hoping that CPTers could help them find donors to fund their projects so they could remain independent of the political parties.
Monday and Tuesday, 18-19 August
The team prepared to close the project for two months.
Wednesday, 20 August
The team left Suleimaniya and flew to Amman, starting a two-month absence with plans for a four-person team to return in October.