Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The film deals with issues of honour crimes and domestic violence and
and they're very relevant because that's one of the issues we focus on
in the Middle East and other places. We just released a report yesterday
actually on Iraq, looking at the human rights situation eight years after the
invasion and one of the things that we realized is, especially for women's
rights, things have deteriorated considerably since 2003 and one of the
issues that women complain about are honour crimes and domestic violence.
I was there in Iraq in April and I've been there again in January working on
this report. We went to different cities across Iraq, from Baghdad to
Basra to Najaf interviewing with women's rights groups, with victims,
with lawyers and journalists. And the situation is quite bad
and what we see is that within the laws of Iraq and the criminal code,
they're are actually provisions that protect people perpetrators who
who kill women.
As long as it's done for reasons of honour. You can actually get a reduced
sentence under Iraqi law if you beat your wife. It's actually
permitted to discipline your wife under Iraqi law so those are the
things that we're working to really resolve and to change.
So it's a very relevant issue, especially in Iraq and other parts of
the Middle East and even my specific interest in this issue I think it's...
I'm really looking forward to seeing the film again tomorrow.
I think Human Rights Watch we do an excellent job in documenting these
types of abuses through our reports and through our multimedia and through
our press releases, but sometimes a film.. it's a whole different medium.
People can actually put a face to the violations and to the issues.
So I really hope that people get a sense, an emotional reaction to what
they see and encourage them to take action. So I think
it's a nice complement to the work that we do in this different format.