Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq

The Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) was founded 1998 as the Defense of Iraqi Women's Rights (DIWR) in Toronto, Canada, by a group of Iraqi women which included Yanar Mohammed, the current director. The group changed its name in June 2003 to the Organization of Women’s Freedom and "it is located within Iraq.

"The DIWR worked in collaboration with the Independent Women's Organization (IWO) to run a women's shelter in Northern Iraq that saved the lives of over 200 women targeted for 'honor killings.'"

"The organization works to protect women from discriminatory and dangerous laws and practices like honor killings; the members do so both practically by funding a women’s shelter and working to find safe haven for women who need it, and politically, by raising their voices in defense of women, and by working to ensure women retain a role in the legislative process." 

Actions
"OWFI is the only Iraqi women's organization that has spoken out openly against both the US occupation and the forces of Islamic reaction that it has unleashed. The US war has led, not to 'liberation,' but to a violent backlash against Iraqi women. Islamist groups, bolstered by the political chaos and lawlessness in the country, have begun terrorizing the populace and women in particular, in a bid to gain power over Iraqi society.

"Women are being attacked daily in the streets, forced out of jobs, forced to veil, and abducted and raped. All while the US occupying forces stand by and do nothing." 

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Iraqi Constitution and women's rights
 * Iraqi national elections
 * New Iraq
 * Post-war Iraq
 * women's rights