Iraqi Women May Lose Rights Under New Constitution

Spreading freedom and freeing women are supposed to be two of the primary goals of BushCo's Iraq War. I guess not quite:

Iraqi Women May Lose Basic Rights Under New Constitution by Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS - The irony is not lost either amongst women's groups in Baghdad or activists in the United States: Iraqi women who enjoyed basic human rights under one of the world's most repressive regimes headed by former President Saddam Hussein are now on the verge of losing their hard-won freedoms under a U.S.-blessed administration in the insurgent-ravaged country.

”We express our deepest concern and worry about the drafts lately released by the (Iraqi) Constitutional Committee, specifically relating to the chapter on duties and rights, in which the (Islamic) sharia law was clearly stated as the main source of legislation in the new Iraqi constitution,” the Iraqi Women's Movement said in an appeal to the United Nations.

I think that the United States should be held accountable for its disregard of the impact on women's rights of the (military) occupation -- something many people said in advance when the Bush administration tried to claim the war would benefit women, and many pointed out that Iraq had some of the best laws and policies regarding women's rights already.

Charlotte Bunch of the U.S.-based Center for Women's Global Leadership
According to this draft, the new Iraqi transitional government acknowledges the equal rights of men and women in all fields -- ”as long as it doesn't contradict with sharia law.”

If implemented, the proposed new laws will restrict women's rights, specifically in matters relating to marriage, divorce and family inheritance. A marriage enjoined by a woman's free will is likely to be made more difficult, and divorces by men relatively easier.

Several key rights that were included in the interim Iraqi constitution are also at risk of being taken out of the new constitution by the drafting committee.

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