Political memorandum for a new Iraq

The project “Women think Iraq anew” strove to empower female members of the National Council of Representatives as well as women from civil society, politics, academia and the legal profession to develop a joint vision for the future of their country. 
The project promoted new approaches ensuring the participation of women in democratic, societal and peace processes, as well as in state-building on a local, regional, and national scale.

In 2017, the participating women jointly developed a political memorandum for a new Iraq, which gives an overview on the situation of women and proposes concrete ideas of how to strengthen women’s rights and women’s participation in the following policy areas:

• peace building and dialogue
• state building and federalism
• gender equality and violence against women
• the personal status law
• political participation of women

The Memorandum was used by the authors and other local stakeholders as a reference during the parliamentary elections in 2018, and it constitutes the basis of elbarlament’s on-going work with Iraqi women to improve legislation in the areas outlined in the document.