The Text of the speech of Sayyid Ammar Al-Hakeem at the 13th annual conference to Oppose Violence Against Women, September 11, 2021
In the name of Allah Almighty
Allah Blessings and Peace upon our prophet Mohammed, his pure family, and his chosen companions
Your Excellency President of the Republic,
Most Honorable, The Prime Minister,
Your Excellency the Speaker of the Parliament,
Your Excellency President of the Supreme Judicial Council,
Your Excellency Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and the head of UN Assistance Mission for Iraq,
Your Excellencies and Highnesses,
Attending Ladies and Gentlemen,
My sincerest regards, and thank you for coming to this qualitative convention that has been held annually for 13 years, on the first of Safar on the occasion of “Islamic Day for Opposing Violence Against Women”. As a clear sign on the importance of addressing a very important social case. the necessity of finding all solutions and never lose track of it. We are very keen on ending all practices of societal and domestic violence against women and unlawfully restrict their influential presence in society.
This conference was scheduled annually on the first of Safar, the day the captives of the family of the Messenger “PABBUH” entered the Levant, in which women, children, the elderly, prisoners and wounded from the family of the Prophet Mohammed “PABBUH” were subjected to violence, abuse and injustice, which is a crime against humanity and its rights in general. and women in particular.
Karbala represents the massive cry in the human memory of injustice, tyranny, and all social and political crimes, which can affect an entire group at one time, and what group? When all segments, groups, and levels are represented in terms of (age diversity, gender of men and women, young and old, civilians and fighters, wounded, sick and prisoners, and others), which makes us pause for a long time at this horrific incident to first: criminalize it continuously, and second: to prevent it from recurring ever, believing That this is one of the most important messages of Karbala.
- Sayyida Zainab, the daughter of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib's “Peace Be Upon Them Both” represented the model of the courageous and steadfast leading woman who wasn’t limited by the crimes committed against her, her family, and her relatives. But she managed to break the siege to make her voice, unjust, and her message heard around the entire globe. If it weren’t for the sacrifices of the great women, the unjust powers would have been able to curtail the lofty message of Karbala through unjust and dark practices at the time, similar to the thousands of tragic events that humanity has experienced historically and have been obliterated and hidden.
- It can be said that Sayyida Zainab the Great, this knowledgeable, scholar, teacher, virtuous mastermind, the daughter of the martyrs, the sister of the martyrs, the mother of the martyrs, was the extension of the martyrs, their voice, and their resounding message in the face of unjust tyrants in every time and place, thus bringing together the leadership of patience and steadfastness together, holding the reins of motherhood and the nation together, a leader for her family who was with her in captivity.
On this ever-living day, the biography of these great people must be imitated and work to translate their noble message at the level of society, life, and individual behavior. The noble, patient woman who’s loyal to her family, children, and her country was and still represents the good extension from Zainab the great to our current time and shall remain Allah’s willing.
We only have to be the conscious mind, the permanent support and the true defender of the rights of our entire society and all its categories and segments, foremost among them is the key half of society (the honorable and dignified woman), who, without her steadfastness, patience and sacrifices, would not have been destined for this people to survive nor this bright history.
-The mother and the sister and the wife and the daughter are the symbol of life, hope, and stability, and whoever wants a peaceful society blessed with tranquility and peace, then all it has to do is be aware of this position and advocate for these rights and defend them at all times.
Only sick and ignorant souls despise women and underestimate their position in their environment. The most obvious aspects of this disregard are the weakening, undermining, accusing, and questioning of women, their capabilities and status, and targeting those who defend them and care about empowering them and supporting their roles in life.
Women, who have proven their worth in managing the home, family, and promising new generations with steadfastness, patience, and loyalty, is progressing today to be at the forefront of the social, political, cultural, scientific, and economic scene. It is imperative to determine on continuing this progress, removing all illegal obstacles and hinders in front of it, to reach successes and achievements in the national, regional, and international fields.
Dear attendees:
- After roughly two decades of experience and democratic choice in our country, we must not be satisfied with combating violence against women, but we must strive to empower them and support their status and roles.
We must focus on success stories and everything that would raise the status of women in our societies. Our religion recommends this and presents us with the highest female human models: It presents (Asia, Maryam, Amina, Khadija, Fatima, and Zainab) and hundreds of other women role models in history, and our consciences and our will to build the nation and the state It pushes us in this direction.
In this context, we emphasize the following:
- Spreading the culture of gender, including all details, such as addressing environmental conditions, social heritage, and wrong interpretations of religious texts in the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah, and assisting the concerned authorities in carrying out their destined role to protect women from the violence they are exposed to. There is no comprehensive and sustainable development for the country without caring for women and eliminating the violence against them, those who represent more than half of the society.
- Adoption of a comprehensive national strategy to advance the reality of women. Informing women of their rights and the laws that protect them, and informing society of these rights and laws through school curricula and the media.
- Iraq's commitment to the international treaties to which it has acceded concerning women and their rights.
- Empowering women politically by developing a political culture by setting a quota for women at the leadership levels of political entities and involving them in responsibility and decision-making positions, and management of political work.
- Adoption of the poverty reduction strategy, focusing on women below the poverty line and increasing the financial allocations to the Social Protection Commission to ensure that social Protection includes the largest number of needy people, especially women without a provider.
- Empowering women economically, facilitating their entry to the labor market, training them in economic practice, and affirmative action to them in soft loans, grants, and government economic support.
- Facilitating government procedures in granting licenses for economic projects to the private sector and giving privacy to projects of women who have lost their providers.
- Paying attention to women in the media and confronting the negative image that some media reflect on the weakness of women and their preoccupation with irrelevant issues, and putting an end to digital violence against women aiming to reduce their status within the processes of cyber blackmail, bargaining, and dissemination of false information. Investing in university efforts in terms of theses and studies, and developing educational curricula, and investing in the media, drama, and others to change the negative vision towards women.
- Investing in the efforts made by civil society organizations in support of combating violence against women.
- Implementation of the Yazidi Survivors Law, which provides the necessary facilities such as salaries, plots of land, and psychological rehabilitation for the survivors, and amending the law to include survivors of all components.
Dear attendees:
The Iraqi elections are at closing in, and all approaches, programs, and projects are at the edge to achieve what our Iraqi people aspire to in terms of development, prosperity, and stability. It is a valuable opportunity to sort out an important trio that must be taken into consideration as follows:
First: Questioning the projects and slogans that are raised before the elections, and do they represent the will of the sponsoring party or are they moment-born and at the will of the electoral need only?
- Our people have become aware and have a clear vision between those who have credibility and the accumulation of good projects and those who accumulate slogans temporarily, instantly, and for the sake of obtaining the electoral vote!
Second: Is it possible for someone who holds rigid or extremist ideas to become a righteous good deed-maker overnight, working to achieve what they opposed in the past?
We must not fall prey to empty slogans and flashy phrases over and over again. Rather, we must differentiate between what is well-established and rooted, and what is temporary and changing.
Third: will the next stage be able to bear the return of traditional templates in political work with the same methods, discourse, and behavior? The opportunity has become ripe to move to a new phase characterized by stability, prosperity, urbanization, services, and openness to the world.
We are in front of a great historical opportunity to overcome the accumulations of the past and differentiate between what serves the interests of our country and our people and what harms them.
- The Iraqi woman will have a great role in the forthcoming elections, not only in terms of candidacy, standing up, and accepting responsibility, but also in terms of interaction and participation in representation and decision-making as well.
- As soon as women move within the family framework and its wide and complex relations, directing and clarifying the importance of the elections and their impact on the future of the family and children, the entire society will move in this direction. Therefore, I call on the conscious woman, mother, sister, daughter, and wife, to confront this task forcefully and demand broad, active, and conscious participation in the elections.
- We have raised the slogan of empowering youth, women, and competencies at the level of society, the state, and its institutions, and it is still on top of our priorities. We are still calling for supporting all necessary legislation to remove obstacles and provide the required conditions.
We will remain the first supporter of youth, women, and national competencies in positions of responsibility;
We will support all the good projects of civil society organizations working on these goals.
Our Iraq is struggling with time to keep pace with the accelerating events and positive global developments, and we have no time to waste nor the energy to spare.
What is required of all of us is solidarity, cooperation, and solidarity to achieve higher goals and interests through an economic, urban, service, and administrative renaissance.
We have adopted the project (moderation, mediation, and measures) in the country to build an independent, stable and prosperous state, and we will be the first to demand the empowerment of youth and women’s rights in the next government, and we will stipulate that any upcoming prime minister be supportive of the representation of youth, women, and competencies in his cabinet and government institutions.
We raised the slogan of the state and our goal is for our state to be free of crises, extremism, chaos, and corruption. It must be armed with all energies, experiences, and expertise, to end years of decline and chapters of adversity and open up to all good, righteousness, and reform.
Peace be upon the conscious, sacrificing Iraqi woman, and peace upon the battered women since the Husseini revolution until the present day. Peace be upon the Iraqi political prisoners and martyrs during the era of dictatorship.
And peace be upon the martyrs of our armed forces and our popular mobilization, and peace be upon our great references, especially the supreme authority, Imam Al-Sistani “May Allah Grant Him Longer Life”, and peace be upon the great deceased reference, the jurist of Ahl Al-Bayt, His Eminence, the Great Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Saeed Al-Hakeem “May Allah Sanctify His Soul”. Peace be upon the two Sadir martyrs, the messenger of religious authority, Shaheed Al-Mihrab (martyr of the Altar), and Azeez Al-Iraq, and may the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon
