General

A day in the life of Suaad Allami: The plight of Iraqi women refugees

October 28, 2014

An award-winning Iraqi lawyer and activist for women’s rights from Sadr City in Baghdad, Suaad Allami founded the NGO “Women for Progress” in 2007. It manages a legal clinic and “one-stop shop” for legislative advocacy, domestic violence counselling, vocational training and other services. She was invited to speak at this year’s Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security on 28 October, which focuses on displaced women as leaders and survivors.

She gives us a glimpse at how thousands of Iraqi women and girls are coping…

Yazidi children and women who fled Iraq’s Sinjar Mountain re-enter the country from the Syrian Arab Republic, at a border crossing in the town of Peshkhabour in Dohuk Governorate. Photo: ©UNICEF/Khuzaie

Across Iraq, families with small children and babies in arm walk for hours on end under the scorching heat, searching for a safe haven from the extremist violence of ISIS militants. Carrying what few belongings they can that might aid their survival, they abandon their lives for a future in which the only certainty is their displacement.