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MADRE Programs in Iraq

MADRE's work in Iraq dates back to the first Gulf War, when MADRE delivered ten tons of milk and medicine for Iraqi families.

In March of 2003, as the US prepared to invade Iraq once more, MADRE again worked in partnership with UNICEF/Iraq, to provide approximately 25,000 people with emergency relief, including essential drugs and medical supplies, powdered milk for children and water purification tablets to treat contaminated drinking water.

In 2004, MADRE spearheaded efforts to bring public attention to death threats made against Yanar Mohammed, founder of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI). MADRE continues to work with OWFI, supporting their network of women's shelters in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Erbil, and Nasariyeh, which provide a safe haven for women in Iraq's current environment of gender-based violence.

The US invasion and occupation of Iraq have brought a sharp rise in violence against women, including "honor killings." OWFI and MADRE recently launched a new campaign to combat "honor killings:" The Underground Railroad for Iraqi Women. Just as enslaved African Americans relied on a secret network of courageous individuals to help them make their way to freedom, Iraqi women who are threatened with "honor killings" need an escape route.

A woman who is targeted for an "honor killing" is often hunted down by her family—even years later. For that reason, relocating completely, even changing her name, is often the only way for a woman to save her own life. Yet few women have the resources to take such measures on their own. The Underground Railroad for Iraqi Women provides women who are threatened with "honor killing" with the means and social support to escape and begin to build a new life.

In response to increasing sectarian violence in Iraq, MADRE is also supporting OWFI's newest program, ArtAction, an Iraqi youth peace project. ArtAction hosts Freedom Space gatherings—public performance spaces where a brave group of young Sunni and Shiite artists and poets come together to share their poetry and music and demand peace. According to the logic of the civil war, these young people should be enemies. But they refuse to succumb to sectarian hatred. Instead, they are joining together through art and poetry, calling for an end to the civil war, and working to create a society that promotes human rights—including women's rights and freedom from occupation and religious coercion. The Freedom Space events are the only gatherings of their kind in Iraq today, where people can creatively express their rage, their fears, and most importantly, their hopes. These gatherings have been banned by the Islamists—religious fundamentalists—whom the US boosted to power in Iraq. But Iraqis who hunger for peace flock to the gatherings despite the danger.

In addition to providing direct aid and working with Iraqi women dedicated to developing long-term solutions to the crises they face, MADRE has worked to promote public understanding in the US of the real-life impact of US policies in Iraq.