Shelters for Women in Iraq

Thanks to your solidarity with women and girls’ human rights defenders, MADRE partners in Iraq continue to play an essential role in public education and broadcasting.

In 2022, after an eight-year hiatus, the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) Al Mousawaat radio station returned to the airwaves across the country. OWFI, a longtime MADRE partner, has been able to share its lifesaving programming on social media, but a return to radio frequencies significantly expands Al Mousawaat’s reach and amplifies OWFI’s critical voice in Iraq. For years, Al Mousawaat, meaning “equality,” has been a vital resource for anyone fleeing gender-based violence and an important educator on human rights, social justice, and democracy in Iraq. OWFI has faced many attempts by government forces to silence Al Mousawaat radio, severely restrict its programming, and even shut down the station completely – but a return to the airwaves and online broadcast is a testament to the impact of OWFI’s organizing efforts and the power of the feminist movement in Iraq. 

In 2023, OWFI produced 19 digital issues of Uprising Women and seven print editions of the Al-Mousawaat newspaper-with 3,000 copies of each newspaper edition printed and distributed across Baghdad. While the radio was suspended in 2023 from late January through June, OWFI supplemented the closure by hosting programming on Facebook. Overall, OWFI still broadcasted more than 1,500 hours of radio programming. 

With continued support, we are bolstering resources to survivors and ending cycles of gender-based violence in communities across the globe. Thank you for your generous support as we work with women and girls’ human rights defenders to make lasting change in Iraq.