Shelters for Women in Iraq

In the nearly two years since ISIS invaded Iraq, we’ve heard countless stories of despair. Of entire families killed, of girls and women raped and sold into sexual slavery. It’s easy to feel helpless after hearing such horrific stories.

But never forget: even amid these horrors, there are glimmers of hope. And those glimmers shine brightly at the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), our activist partners on the ground.

Take Awaz and Fairoz, for example. Thanks to the support of MADRE members like you, they work with OWFI to run our brand new shelter and rape crisis center for Yazidi girls who have survived ISIS sexual slavery. Both young and vibrant, it’s nearly impossible to meet them and not become filled with hope for what they bring to the future of Iraq.

Pictured here are Fairoz (left) and Awaz (right) at a recent MADRE human rights training in Iraq. Want to learn more about them?

Meet Fairoz

“My greatest goal is to support to the Yazidi women who have survived ISIS. How can we give them a better life?”

Click here to read her story

Meet Awaz

“Let me tell you something. Women and girls can achieve a lot when we support each other.”

Click here to read her story

Awaz, Fairoz and our partners at OWFI usher women and girls fleeing ISIS to the safety of our shelters, and so much more. Through human rights education at our shelters, they also are imagining – and rebuilding – a peaceful Iraq. And they do it with your support. Thank you.

When an Iraqi woman is threatened with deadly violence in her home, where can she find shelter?

For many, the answer was Al Mousawaat (Equality) radio, the human rights radio station run by MADRE’s partner group, the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq. With a diverse range of programming, including skits, interviews and call-in sessions, the station was a critical voice for Iraqis whose rights were violated or who were facing life-threatening violence.

The radio station was the only one of its kind. It provided lifesaving information for women in danger on how to access OWFI’s shelters, counseling support and other vital services -- like the ones you support through this project. And it educated Iraqi communities on the human rights of women, LGBT people and other marginalized people. With every broadcast, it helped to transform harmful attitudes and practices that instigate violence and stigmatize survivors.

But in 2014, the government shut down Al Mousawaat radio as well as over 20 other social justice-oriented stations. For the past two years, MADRE and OWFI have been advocating relentlessly at the national and international levels to get Al Mousawaat’s lifesaving messages for peace, tolerance and human rights back on the air.

And we have great news! OWFI has found a space on a new frequency that reaches 98% of the country, to air Al Mousawaat radio programs. And we resumed broadcasts last month!

Al Mousawaat now reaches over 10 million people throughout Iraq and Kurdistan every week. Now, women in desperate need of save haven will know where to find OWFI’s women’s shelters. And lives will be saved.