Iraq Experts Meeting discussing the Regional Index on Violence against Women and Girls and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda

Experts highlighted the importance and usefulness of the Regional Index to document meaningful data and information and support informed decision-making and actions in the field of VAWG and WPSA for Iraq/KRI. They also focused on the methodology and framework of Regional Index and agreed on the future steps.

The Regional Index is meant to provide a comprehensive documentation on laws, public policies and services related to VAWG and WPSA and their alignment with international laws and women´s rights instruments. They include a set of indicators to follow up and support the implementation of policies and measures to combat VAWG in seven countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia. The Regional Index has adopted a scoring methodology with the participation of legal and gender experts from governments, the academia and women´s organizations from the Index countries.

Iraq was the first country in the Middle East and North Africa region to adopt a National Action Plan for the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security (2014-2018), thus opening new opportunities for the promotion of women rights in the region. “The inclusion in the Regional Index is a decisive step to support the efforts of Iraq/KRI in combating VAWG and implementing the WPSA” says Suzan Aref, Head of WEO.