Deutsche Welle – Iraqi Kurdistan neglects violence against women, NGO says

A new Amnesty International report has concluded that gender-based violence in Kurdistan is perpetuated by a criminal justice system that rarely prosecutes domestic abuse, creating a culture of impunity. According to the report, state prosecutors “rarely, if ever,” initiate criminal cases against alleged abusers. Filing complaints often results in reprisals, threats, and pressure from both alleged abusers and families to drop the charges. The report added that Kurdish authorities are “failing to ensure that perpetrators of domestic violence, including harrowing cases of murder, rape, beatings and burning, are held to account.”