16 women have been killed in South Kurdistan since the beginning of January, RojNews cited Bahar Ali, a director of the Kurdistan Women's Alliance, as saying.

It is believed that violence against women is much more severe than reported cases.

Aliya, who was forced into marriage at the age of 13, was murdered by her 15-year-old husband in Duhok on March 18.

POLICY OF IMPUNITY

While most of the femicides are "honour" killings, political, economic, social pressures and inequalities lead women to commit suicide. Moreover, in most cases, perpetrators make femicides look like a “suicide”.

Speaking to AFP, Hiwa Kerim Camir, spokeswoman of the Directorate for Combating Violence Against Women, noted that femicides increased significantly in January and February compared to 2021. There were 45 femicides during the entire year in 2021.  The number of women killed was 25 in 2020.

Hana Şiwan, from the Civil Development Organization, pointed out that the increase in violence against women is due to the policy of impunity. “There are failures to implement the laws and to take legal action against defendants,” Şiwan said.

The Kurdistan Regional Government passed a law criminalizing domestic violence and female circumcision in 2011. The law stipulates life imprisonment for so-called "honour" killings. However, in practice, the policy of impunity prevails except for the murders, which receive widespread media coverage.