Halabja- A panel on women's participation in politics was held in Halabja by the Community Monitoring and Development Management to mark the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign. At the panel, women highlighted the importance of women's participation in politics. We spoke to Gulîstan Mehemed, a human rights lawyer, about the panel.

Stating that women and women’s organizations have held activities all around the world to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Gülîstan Mehemed said, “In this context, we discussed the political effects on violence against women. Our aim was to discuss what can be done to increase women’s participation in politics and to discuss the effects of politics on violence against women. Men in politics should be educated to raise awareness of society.”

“Laws protecting women should be enacted”

Lawyer Haja Ehmed also spoke to our news agency. “Women should be empowered in politics because women’s participation in decision-making positions directly affects social life,” Haja Ehmed said, “Therefore, empowering women in politics is very important. Women should take part in assemblies and laws protecting women’s participation in politics should be enacted to raise awareness.”