JINHA, NEWS CENTER ─ A reaction came from the US to the closure of the office of REPAK in Hewlêr (Erbil). 75 people, mostly academics, urged the Kurdistan Regional Government to remove the obstacles to the works of the Kurdish Center for Women’s Affairs (REPAK).
The premises of the Kurdish Women’s Relation Office (REPAK) in Hewlêr (Erbil – Iraqi Kurdistan) were raided by General Asayish Security Forces of The Kurdistan Democratic Party on June 5. After the raid, the premises of REPAK got closed and the staff expelled from the city. 75 academics, journalists and activists condemn the raid and the closure of the REPAK by writing letter to the Kurdistan Regional Government. There are many well-known people among those who signed the letter in the United States. Some of them are; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Susan Faludi, columnist at The Nation Katha Pollitt, founder of the Women’s Global Leadership Charlotte Bunch, president of the Center for Secular Space Meredith Tax and Murray Bookchin’s daughter Debbie Bookchin.
The letter is as follow;
Dear Members of the Kurdistan Regional Government:
We are writing to ask you to allow the staff of REPAK, the Kurdish Center for Women’s Affairs, to return to their office in Erbil and continue their work for women’s rights,
As you may know, on June 5, the local Erbil security forces raided the REPAK office. They confiscated the IDs and phones of the three women staff members, put the women in a car, drove them outside the city, and dumped them in the middle of the road; at that point, they gave back their phones and IDs and said they were barred from the city of Erbil. They gave no reason or legal justification for this expulsion and produced no official documents. The only written clue to what is going on has been a statement on a pro-KDP news site accusing REPAK of trying to sabotage Iraqi Kurdistan’s move towards independence, a charge the women call ridiculous. Since they live above their office, and all their possessions remain there, they are also being denied access to their personal property.
The attack on REPAK is an attempt to eliminate an independent voice which stands for women’s rights, has popularized the successes of the radical Kurdish women’s movements in Turkey and Syria, and acts in solidarity with them. Such independent civil society organizations are vital to a democratic society and an aspiring state.
As members and supporters of the international women’s movement, we strongly protest the expulsion of REPAK from Erbil. We note that MasaoudBarzani, President of the Kurdistan Regional Government, has called for a referendum in the hope that Kurdistan will become an independent nation. Modern nations are expected to abide by the rule of law and to coexist with independent civil society organizations. The KDP’s treatment of REPAK does not meet these international standards. We call upon the government of the KRG to restore the staff members of REPAK to their office and property, and allow them to continue their work for women’s rights in Erbil unimpeded by political harassment.
The letter signed by:
Meredith Tax, US, Chair, Centre for Secular Space
Gita Sahgal, UK, Executive Director, Centre for Secular Space
Ariane Brunet, Canada, Program Director, Centre for Secular Space
Nadje Al-Ali, UK, Professor of Gender Studies, SOAS, University of London
Cathy Albisa, US, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Bonnie Anderson, US, Professor Emeritus of History, City University of New York
Allsion Assiter, UK, Professor of Feminist Theory, UWE Bristol
Thomas Bender, US, University Professor of the Humanities, New York University
Helen Benedict, US, Professor of Journalism, Columbia University
Miriam Berkley, US, Photographer
Debbie Bookchin, US, writer and journalist
Heather Booth, US, Democracy Partners
Winifred Breines, US, Professor Emerita of Sociology, Northeastern University
Dr. Shannon Brincat, Australia, Research Fellow, Griffith University
Charlotte Bunch, US, founder, Center for Women’s Global Leadership, Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, Rutgers University, recipient Presidential Medal of Freedom
Lydia Cacho, Mexico, journalist and human rights activist
Ellen Cantarow, US, writer and journalist
Melinda Cooper, Australia, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Sydney
Barbara Ehrenreich, US, writer, founder of Economic Hardship Reporting Project
Susan Faludi, US, writer and Pulitzer prize-winning journalist
Miriam Frank, US, writer, Adjunct Professor of the Humanities, New York University
Jaclyn Friedman, US, writer, founder of Women, Action and the Media (WAM!)
Laura Giudetti, Italy, Editor Marea
Erika Goldman, US, Publisher Bellevue Literary Press, NYU School of Medicine
Linda Gordon, US, University Professor of the Humanities, New York University
Caroline Halliday, UK, artist
Jocelyn Harris, New Zealand, Professor of English, University of Otago
Howie Hawkins, US, Teamsters Union, Green Party
Anissa Helie, US, Associate Professor of History, City University of New York
Rosie Hinnebusch, US, attorney
Mike Hirsch, US, New Politics magazine
Sara Hossain, Bangladesh, Lawyer at the Supreme Court, honorary chair of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), 2016 Woman of Courage Award from US State Department
Rada Ivekovic, France, University Professor of Philosophy
Gloria Jacobs, US, writer and editor
Barry Kade, US, attorney
Michele Landsberg, Canada, writer and journalist
Joanne Landy, US, Campaign for Peace and Democracy
Marilyn Katz, US, CEO MK Communications, founder Chicago Women Take Action
Michael Kazin, US, Co-editor, Dissent Magazine
Amy Kesselman, US, Professor Emeritus Women’s Studies, SUNY New Paltz
Ynestra King, US, writer and environmentalist
Myra Malkin,Esq,, US, writer
Maryam Namazie, UK, founder of One Law for All and Council of Ex-Muslims of Great Britain
Wanda Nowicka, Poland, Equality and Modernity, former MP and Deputy Speaker of Parliament
Judy Norsigian, US, co-founder and former Executive Director of Our Bodies Ourselves
Maxine Phillips, US, editor Democratic Left
Marissa Piesman, Esq., US, writer
Katha Pollitt, US, writer and columnist, The Nation
Sreca Perunovic, US, Associate Professor of Sociology, City University of New York
Yasmin Rehman, UK, board member, Centre for Secular Space
Sonia Robbins, US, writer and co-founder, Network of East-West Women
Ellen Ross, US, Professor Emirita of History and Women’s Studies, Ramapo College
Amanda Sebastyen, UK, writer and human rights activist
Dilip Simeon, India, writer and historian
Caroline CositoreSitrin, US, writer and journalist, guardian ad litem Sarasota Circuit Court
Alan Snitow, US, film-maker
Fatou Sow, Senegal, International Director, Women Living Under Muslim Laws
Gila Svirsky, Israel, Women in Black
Brian Tokar, US, Lecturer in Environmental Sciences, University of Vermont
Meredeth Turshen, US, Professor Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University
Dubravka Ugresic, Netherlands, writer, Neustadt International Prize for Literature
A.A. Ullah, Bangladesh, Forum for a Secular Bangladesh
Carole Vance, US, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University
Federica Venturini, UK, Researcher, University of Leeds
Michael Walzer, US, Professor Emeritus, Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton
Source: JINHA