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Despite the 1970 constitution’s acknowledgement that “the
Iraqi people is made up of two nationalities, the Arab nationality
and the Kurdish nationality,” Kurds in northern Iraq faced
discrimination, repression, and ultimately genocide at the hands
of Saddam Hussein. Ala Talabani is
a cofounder of Women for a Free Iraq and the Iraqi Women’s
High Council, a consultative body established in October 2003 that
has drafted policies on the role of women in Iraq’s post-conflict
reconstruction. The group’s advisory board includes Iraqi,
British, and American women. A fierce advocate for Kurdish and
women’s rights, Ms. Talabani joined the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan, one of Iraq’s largest opposition parties, in 1986.
Joining Iraq’s women’s movement three years later,
she spent five years as vice president of the Kurdistan Women’s
Union. She was fired from engineering and teaching positions for
being Kurdish and for not being a member of the ruling Ba’ath
Party, and she was detained for two days by the Iraqi security
service and interrogated about her religious and political beliefs.
Following the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Ms. Talabani fled with her
family to Iran, back to Iraq, and then to Syria. They eventually
arrived in the United Kingdom, where she continued to speak on
behalf of Kurdish and other Iraqi women. She has met with President
George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair and contributed to
a number of British and Arab newspaper and magazine articles on
the state of Iraq and its Kurdish population. Following the fall
of Hussein’s regime, Ms. Talabani returned to Iraq, where
she was nominated, though not appointed, a member of the Iraqi
Governing Council and deputy to the minister of social affairs.
Ms. Talabani’s peace-building efforts include:
- returning to Iraq to aid in reconstruction efforts and work
for the rights and participation of women in an inclusive Iraqi
society following the collapse of the Hussein regime;
- heading the constitution and democracy committees at “Voices
of Women in Iraq,” the first post-war conference to address
the needs and resources unique to Iraq’s women;
- organizing and chairing the conferences “The Heartland
of Iraqi Women” and “Women and Political Participation,” bringing
women together to push for their inclusion in the public sphere;
and
- participating in a number of consultations on the inclusion
of women in post-war Iraq, hosted by such groups as the World
Bank, UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Women for Women
International, the American Bar Association Central European
and Eurasian Law Initiative, and the non-partisan think tank
the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
(Last updated 02.2004)
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Women's Work in Iraq
Boston Globe editorial
November 9, 2003
Ala
Talabani Interview
The World, hosted by Lisa Mullins
Aired November 7, 2003 on National Public Radio
The
Women of Iraq
On Point, hosted by Tom Ashbrook
aired November 6, 2003 on National Public Radio
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