Project Duration: 2022–2025
Project Status: Completed
Partner: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Summary of Project Activities
From 2022 to 2025, the Investigator Organization for Supporting Rule of Law and Democracy (IOL), in strategic partnership with UNFPA Iraq, implemented a range of comprehensive activities and initiatives aimed at advancing justice, human rights, and protection mechanisms for women and girls.
Key project initiatives included providing legal assistance, legal counseling, and legal representation to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and cyber-extortion, alongside community awareness campaigns aimed at reducing the prevalence of early marriage.
To support the implementation of human rights-based response standards, the project contributed to raising public awareness through specialized training and capacity-building programs. These trainings covered topics including the International Protocol on the Investigation of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, and were delivered to judicial investigators, police officers, lawyers, and forensic medical personnel in a number of Iraqi governorates.
At the same time, the partnership made an active contribution to systemic, legal, and institutional reform through the review of laws and regulations related to sexual and reproductive health, the assessment of gaps in legal protection, the development of institutional codes of conduct for the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), as well as the publication of foundational guidelines and documents in the fields of forensic medicine and health legislation in the Kurdistan Region.
About the Project Partner
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is a United Nations agency working in the fields of sexual and reproductive health, and works to protect the rights and choices of women, girls, and young people in more than 150 countries.
UNFPA works to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person has the opportunity to develop their potential.
UNFPA in Iraq established its program in Iraq in 2008 and opened its first country office in 2011. Since then, UNFPA has worked across Iraq to contribute to improving sexual and reproductive health services, advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment, developing programs for young people, and providing population data for development.
