Central Office of Children’s
First
29 July 2000
Contact: Soraya Shahabi
Press Release
Condemn
the Child Abuse in Iraqi Kurdistan!
The
life, future, and safety of children should under no
circumstances be the victims of political maneuvers.
Children’s future must never be the victim of national and
tribal interests
In the second half of July,
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) under the leadership
of Jalal Talabani attacked the Center for the Defense of
Children’s Rights in the city of Sulaimaniya, robbing
the Center’s belongings and evicting its resident children.
During this raid, the staff were threatened and the children
were so terrorized that they ran away, with no news of their
whereabouts or even their conditions to date. The Center was
shut down.
In another raid in July 21,
the PUK has also attacked the women’s shelter and the Center
for Independent Women Organization in the same city. The
PUK’s armed personnel arrested all the women with their
children who were there due to the threat of assassination
and honor killings and family violence. They closed down
these two organizations, confiscated all their belongings
and the confidential files that were kept on the women and
children. To date, there is no news of the situation of
these women either.
The Center for the
Defense of Children
in Sulaimaniya, which was founded by a group of activists of
children’s rights in February 1999, is a member of the
Children First campaign, and has been involved in
organizing for the improvement of the situation of children
in the Iraqi Kurdistan. Despite all the pressures and lack
of funding, the Center soon became a force in the defense of
children, gaining such achievements as:
-
Custody of five children:
(Children First can not release the names in fear
of the children’s safety)
-
Outreach to assist personal, family and social problems of
12 children: 4
cases of unattended children, 3 cases of chronic
family violence, psychological abuse, and physical abuse,
one case of violence and threat by armed personnel, one
case of forced labor, and 3 cases of family problems. (Children
First can not release the names in fear of the
children’s safety).
-
Provision of medical services to 10 children:
7 cases of physical, 1 case of psychological nature, 2
cases of psychological problems due to compulsory
religious practices and threats from the Islamic groups. (Children
First can not release the names in fear of the
children’s safety).
-
Research and Investigation:
The center found 200 cases of violence against children in
Sulaimaniya, including beatings and threats in the
educational establishments, and 500 cases of physical,
psychological, and social warfare against the children.
The following cases were revealed by the investigations:
1- One child ,Azad Abubekir, had been beheaded; 2- Dana
Muhammad Khursheed, a young girl who had been sexually
assaulted before being suffocated; 3- Hardi Nouraddin, a
young boy who had been killed by the beating of his teachers;
4- Sexual assault and death of a girl named Shahla Mustafa,
a young girl who was sexually assaulted and murdered; 5-
Aram Ismail another murdered child; 6- Hawall Karaman
Ismail, yet another murdered child; 7- Dana Kadir Rasoul,
savagely murdered and beheaded; 8- A case of a sexually
assaulted child (Children First can not release the
names in fear of the children’s safety); 9- Khwazyar Rebwar
Osman, died because of lack of medicine and poverty.
-
Positive actions to eradicate violence imposed on children,
monitoring the situation of children and seeking
international support:
In order to raise awareness, the Center has:
- distributed tens of thousands of flyers, press-releases
and newspapers, held tens of seminars and meetings, on a
variety of issues and problems faced by children namely,
their lives, personalities, education, violence against
children, battering and their effects on children’s life and
health. The Center has also published a periodical and
broadcast radio programs to identify children as precocious
and valued people.
- organized photo and paining exhibitions, reflecting the
situation of children.
- published the Declaration of Children’s Right in
Kurdistan, in accordance with UN convention on the rights of
children.
The Center has maintained continuous contact with the
authorities, including the Board of Education, police and
many government officials in order to put pressure on the
PUK to improve the situation of children.
The Center has been in contact and held meetings with UNISEF,
Amnesty International, and international organizations that
defend children, in order to gain international support for
Iraqi children.
-
Further actions: The
followings are in the agenda of the Center’s urgent
tasks:
- Building daycare, nursery and playgrounds;
- Setting up a shelter for abandoned children;
- Monitoring and reporting on the violence towards children
in schools and educational establishments;
- Setting up arts, sports and recreational activity centers
in districts and cities.
The above humanitarian
efforts of the Center to rescue and save the lives of the
children have been the victim of political encounter between
the PUK and the Worker-communist Party of Iraq and. The PUK
has justified its attacks on children’s rights by claiming
that the Center has been founded by the members and
activists of this Party. In enmity with the Party, the PUK’s
armed personnel have raided and shut down the Women’s
Shelter and the Center of Children’s Rights, and have
attacked the children protected by the Center.
Freedom loving people!
Defendants of children!
The life, future, and
safety of children should under no circumstances be the
victims of political maneuvers. Children’s future must never
be the victim of national and tribal interests. Condemn the
PUK for attacking the rights of children and declare with us
that:
- PUK is
responsible for the lives of the children who were in
custody of the Children’s Center, and those children who
were evicted with their mothers from the Women’s Shelter;
- PUK
should return all the confiscated properties of the
Children’s Center and pay compensation for the losses or
damages to the Center;
- Those
who took part in the raids of the Children’s Center should
be prosecuted in an open public hearing;
Please send your letters of
condemnation to the addresses below, together with a copy of
your correspondences to the Children’s First.
www.puk@puk.org
PUK- UK
5 Glasshouse Walk
London SE1
Tel: +44 207 840 0640,
Fax: +44 207 840 0630
PUK – USA
444 North Capitol Street
NW, Suite 837
Washington DC 20001
Tel: +1 202 637 2496
Fax: +1 202 637 2723.
PUK-France
23 rue Louias Pouey
72800 Puteaux, France
Tel: +33 1 477 87598
Fax: +33 1 391 65779.
PUK –Turkey
Tel: +90 312 440 2199
Fax: +90 312 440 4549.
SAMPLE LETTER,
Address
Date
I / my organization am / is
writing to condemn (PUK) the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s
Violations of children and
human rights. I am outraged that PUK under the leadership of
Jalal Talabani attacked the Center for the Defense of
Children’s Rights in the city of Sulaimaniya, evicting its
resident children, the children were so terrorized that they
ran away, with no news of their whereabouts or even their
conditions to date, and the Center was shut down. I / my
organization demand(s) that the PUK respect children rights
by:
- Taking
responsibility for the lives of the children who were in
custody of the Children’s Center, and those children who
were evicted with their mothers from the Women’s Shelter;
-
Returning all the confiscated properties of the Children’s
Center and paying compensation for the losses or damages
to the Center.
- Those
who took part in the raids of the Children’s Center should
be prosecuted in an open public hearing.
Signed:
______________________________
Name:
______________________________
Organization (if any):
______________________________
Address:
______________________________
E-mail:
______________________________
CC: CF, PO Box 663 STN.P,
Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2Y4 Canada.
Fax: 1-781-735 83 59. Emil:childrenfirst@pathcom.com
We, the undersigned condemn
(PUK) the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s violations of
children and human rights and are outraged that PUK under
the leadership of Jalal Talabani attacked the Center for the
Defense of Children’s Rights in the city of Sulaimaniya,
evicted its resident children, the children were so
terrorized that they ran away with no news of their
whereabouts or even their conditions to date, and the Center
was shut down. We demand that the PUK respect children
rights by taking responsibility for the lives of the
children who were in custody of the Children’s Center and
those children who were evicted with their mothers from the
Women’s Shelter, returning all the confiscated properties of
the Children’s Center, and paying compensation for the
losses or damages to the Center. Those who took part in the
raids of the Children’s Center should be prosecuted in an
open public hearing.
NAME SIGNATURE
ORGANIZATION CITY, COUNTRY |