“Silence for fear of scandal” .. “frightening” testimonies about the growing phenomenon of harassment in Iraq

The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights revealed that verbal and verbal harassment is increasing in many government and private facilities, including homes in Iraq, according to testimonies of victims and eyewitnesses.

According to a report published on its official website, the Observatory listened to personal testimonies and conducted several interviews, during which women, men, security personnel, journalists and teachers spoke about the details of harassment incidents that occurred in hospitals, universities, schools, government and other departments, as well as in the media.

All the speakers requested that their names not be disclosed or information that leads to identifying them or the “perpetrators” of the harassment cases mentioned in this report, for fear of “social stigma” and clan persecution.

A woman told the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, who requested that her identity not be concealed, that she was accompanying her mother, who was diagnosed with cancer, during her treatment at Al-Amal Hospital in Baghdad, when one of the employees there “bargained” with her in exchange for treatment for her mother.

She added: "My mother's treatment depended on a signature from him.

I thought about how to solve the problem and did not inform my father so that his troubles would not increase, and I was afraid that my mother would be harmed if I file an official complaint, as officials do not stand with a citizen, so I kept quiet.” One day after the incident, her mother passed away.

She also said, "I was also subjected to two cases of harassment as well, the first by a university professor who lowered my academic degree in his subject because I refused his harassment of me, even though I was in second place in my class in the bachelor's and master's stages."

However, this “punishment” was less severe than what happened to a female colleague who was “harassed by a professor as well, and she did not respond to him, so he failed her in his subject.”

As for the second case of harassment that the spokeswoman was subjected to, it was after she applied to work as a reporter for a satellite channel: “The chief correspondent harassed me, so I had to withdraw despite my competence.”

A journalist who spoke to the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights and requested that his name or the name of the institution he works for not be mentioned, recounted a similar case.

In an audio recording he sent to the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, he said, "A manager in our institution harassed one of the female colleagues inside the headquarters where we work, so she took the initiative to beat him and then was fired after he falsely accused her of stealing money from her colleagues' bags."

 According to testimonies documented by the observatory and reported by RT, the student (Z.K.) at the University of Baghdad was harassed in the room of one of the professors, which prompted her to file a complaint with the university presidency, which suspended him from teaching for a whole year.

And her colleague, who is studying for a master's degree, and asked not to be named to avoid administrative harassment, added that "a professor in the same college called another colleague late at night, harassing her, and she later argued that he was taking a drug that affects his mind."

This case “did not reach the Deanship of the College or the Presidency of the University, because it is not surprising and almost natural and everyone knows it and brings the female students nothing but trouble and a bad reputation despite their being victims. Therefore, the majority of them prefer to remain silent and rarely one of them dares to file an official complaint while they do not speak at all.” Except for those of their colleagues who trust him and sometimes seek help and advice,” according to the testimony of a graduate student who witnessed one of the harassment attacks.

Testimonies heard by the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, as well as the interviews it conducted, indicate that schools are witnessing cases of harassment as well, including female students, male and female teachers alike.

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