Sulaymaniyah, 12 May 2009: Last year on this day, 11 May 2008 at 2300 HRS, Asuda’s shelter building in Sulaymaniyah came under gunfire attack by unidentified gunmen. As a result of the attack, a woman held at the shelter was seriously wounded by three direct bullets.

Women’s Rights Organizations, Civil Society NGOs have been striving for years to introduce changes in Iraqi laws that are against the interests of women and their rights and applies unfair and discriminative provisions against women. These efforts were concluded by the initiative of His Excellency the Kurdistan Regional Government [KRG] Prime Minister’s decision to set up a committee to look into changes in the Personal Status Code.

On 11 May 2008 at 2300 HRS, Asuda shelter’s building in Sulaymaniyah came under gunfire attack by unidentified gunmen. As a result of the attack, a woman held at the shelter was seriously wounded by three direct bullets. According to preliminary information, the gunmen opened fire on the shelter from a house [reportedly unoccupied] next to the shelter and shot at the shelter premises.  The victim [S.H. M] a mother of 3 children from Chamchamal, Sulaymaniyah was immediately taken to Sulaymaniyah Emergency Hospital. According to the hospital reports, the woman’s condition is currently stable after 4-hour long major surgery.

While Human Rights and Civil Society Groups and Activists have been striving for years to put and end to abuses and violence against women, inhuman and outrageous killings in the name of honor continue to be a serious social problem and perpetrators of such crimes escape from justice.