Until recently, millions of women, men, and children in Iraq lived under a reign of tyranny imposed by the so-called Islamic State, the terrorist group also known as ISIS. Those who opposed its inhuman ideology of hate faced torture and public execution. Women and girls were abducted and raped; children were enslaved and forced to join the terrorists' assault.
More than five years of civil war have left large parts of Syria in ruins and severely affected its civilian population. While some five million people have fled the country, another eight million have been displaced within Syria.
At the Jiyan Foundation, we support traumatized Syrian refugees in four camps in North Iraq through medical aid and psychological assistance. Every year, some 4000 Syrians receive help in our centers. About 90% of them are women and children.
In Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan, female genital mutilation (FGM) is not marginal. On an international level, the existence of FGM in Iraq has been ignored for many years and it has been commonly labeled as an "African disease".
