Support for the State Shelter for Women Threatened by Violence and Honor Killings in Sulaimania
Table of Contents
Background
Since 2013, KHANZAD has been collaborating with the state shelter in Sulaimania, which is run by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MOSLA) of the Kurdish Regional Government. The shelter offers refuge to women who have fled acute situations of violence or who are threatened by honor killings and cannot return to their families. On average, thirty to forty women, some with their children, live in the shelter. They are admitted based on family court decisions and can only be released through a court ruling if a safe perspective for them is established.
In recent years, KHANZAD has contributed to significant improvements in the conditions of the shelters. Nevertheless, the living situation of the women remains extremely stressful due to the forced and crisis situation and the impossibility of leaving the shelter. Furthermore, the shelters are chronically underfunded by the state, and the caregivers working there are insufficiently qualified to develop reintegration prospects with the women and their families. The ongoing financial crisis in the Kurdish Region since 2017 has further worsened the situation in the shelter. Local women’s and human rights groups, as well as NGOs, criticize these deficiencies and advocate for the legal recognition of private or civil society-run shelters for women.
However, the Khanzad Women’s Center firmly believes that a state-run, police-protected shelter is an indispensable element in the protection and counseling system for women in situations of violence and continues its commitment to the state shelter.
Activities
KHANZAD continuously works to improve the living conditions of the women in the shelters. KHANZAD supports the renovation of recreational and common rooms, provides clothing and hygiene products to the women and children housed there, organizes leisure and educational activities, and runs a kindergarten for the children of caregivers and clients. Caregivers, administrative staff, and security personnel employed at the shelter receive training and supervision.
To prevent the women’s stay in the shelter from becoming a hopeless permanent situation, KHANZAD supports the shelter staff in providing legal and psychosocial counseling to the women and in family mediation processes that enable the reintegration of affected women into their social environment.
From the beginning, the goal has been to establish sustainable mechanisms for civil society-state cooperation in the counseling of women in situations of violence. Within the framework of the project, a close cooperation developed between the state shelter, the Directorate of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (DOLSA), the Directorate for Combating Violence Against Women of the Ministry of Interior (DCVAW), KHANZAD, and other international and local NGOs for the sustainable improvement of care and counseling services in the shelter.
Supporters and Partners
KHANZAD’s collaboration with the shelter has been supported with funds from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Committee of the Women’s World Day of Prayer.