Yanar's Fund
Yanar Mohammed Feminist Defense Fund
“Yanar’s Fund” supports women in Iraq and throughout the region who defend women’s human rights and carry forward Yanar’s legacy.
Yanar's Fund
“Yanar’s Fund” supports women in Iraq and throughout the region who defend women’s human rights and carry forward Yanar’s legacy.
Yanar Mohammed – one of the most formidable feminist leaders of her generation – was assassinated at her home in Baghdad on March 2nd, 2026. MADRE is devastated by her loss, and we mourn with all who loved her and whose lives she changed.
To honor Yanar and carry forward her work, MADRE has established the Yanar Mohammed Feminist Defense Fund. “Yanar’s Fund” supports urgent needs of the organization she founded and led for decades, Organization of Women’s Freedom In Iraq (OWFI), to ensure they have the resources to continue without interruption and without isolation. In addition, Yanar’s Fund exists to protect and stabilize OWFI in the future, and support women human rights defenders in the region to continue Yanar’s legacy.
Yanar Mohammed built feminist infrastructure under sustained threat. As founder of OWFI, she created networks of shelters, organizing spaces, legal advocacy, and grassroots leadership that have supported women and girls confronting violence, displacement, and systemic repression. The Feminist Defense & Continuity Fund exists to protect that infrastructure so that feminist organizing can continue during times of disruption.
Feminist movements do not operate in isolation. OWFI’s work has long been interconnected with shelters, grassroots organizers, media platforms, legal advocates, and regional networks. The Fund provides flexible, targeted support to help sustain this ecosystem of organizations that form the backbone of women’s rights infrastructure in Iraq.
By providing rapid and adaptable resources, Yanar’s Fund helps ensure that critical institutions remain protected, operational, and institutionally stable.
By providing rapid and adaptable resources, Yanar’s Fund helps ensure that critical organization remain protected, operational, and institutionally stable.
Yanar’s life was a testament to feminist courage in action. Honoring her means defending what she built.
Make a gift to the Yanar Mohammed Feminist Defense Fund.
For more information, please contact madre@madre.org.
Over time, MADRE aims to build a permanent endowment that will sustain OWFI and women human rights defenders in the region for years to come, honoring Yanar Mohammed’s legacy by defending the institutions she built and the movements she helped lead.
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On the Assassination of Feminist Leader Yanar Mohammed
Yanar Mohammed – one of the most formidable feminist leaders of her generation – was assassinated in her home in Baghdad in what appears to have been a targeted militia attack.
