Khanim Latif

Khanim Rahim Latif
Executive Director of Asuda
Assumed office
January 21, 2002
President Rezan Akreyi
Preceded by Ashti Aziz
Personal details
Born (1969-01-01) 1 January 1969
Sulaymaniyah, Iraq
Nationality Iraqi
Spouse(s) Kamal Rauf (m. 1962)
Children 1
Residence Sulaymaniyah, Iraq
Website Website

Khanim Rahim Latif (Central Kurdish: خانم لەتیف‎, translit. Xanim Letîf; Arabic: خانم لطيف‎, translit. Xanim Latīf‎),(born January 1, 1969 in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq) is a liberal women’s rights activist in Iraqi Kurdistan who seeks to defend equality and offer women a refuge from gender-based violence.

Early life and education

Latif has bachelor's degree in Law and Political Science in 2014-2015 and Diploma in Social Work Practice from the Church University of Canterbury in the UK in 2006.

Career

Latif joined women's rights movement in Kurdistan in 2000. In 2002, she founded the first women's protection shelter providing refuge to victims of gender based violence and honor killing. She was appointed as the Director for Asuda, the first independent NGO to focus on violence against women in Iraq based in the city of Sulaymaniyah. She has published several booklets and books in Kurdish including Consequences of violence against women. Latif also translated into Kurdish several international conventions and documents on women’s rights such as CEDAW.

Khanim Latif meeting with former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the US State Department, 2008

Latif has been a member of Frontline Defenders International since 2010, a member of the Kurdish National Congress (KNK)[1] since 2011, and a member of Amnesty International since 2006. She has worked extensively on UNSCR1325 related activities in Iraq and Kurdistan and is a founding member of UNSCR1325 Iraq National Action Plan (INAP) coalition. Latif is also an adviser Global Fund for Women for Middle East and North Africa.[2] Latif is also a member of the Honor Based Violence Awareness Network.[3]

Latif was selected as an independent candidate for the Iraqi National Assembly (Parliament) elections for the 2005 elections. She attended many of the countrywide conferences, workshops and symposiums on women in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. She also participated in campaigning for endorsing a 25% quota for female participation in the future legislative authorities in Iraq/National Assembly.

Latif was selected as nominee for the US Department of State Women of Courage Award in 2008 and a nominee for 2016 Vital Voices Global Leadership Award.[4]

Latif contributes to many reports by international and local organizations and media about women's issues in Kurdistan and Iraq and has been interviewed by international media as a source of information with regard to women's rights in Iraq.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]

Khanim Latif meeting with Zainab Hawa Bangura, United Nations Secretary-General Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, March 2016

Latif also regularly participates in international, regional, countrywide and local events and conferences on women's rights and SGBV in Iraq.[20]

Khanim Latif at the Vital Voices Global Leadership Award Ceremony-2016, at the Kennedy Arts Center

In 2014, after the terrorist group ISIS began a violent campaign against the region’s Yazidi population, Latif contributed to the search for women survivors in abandoned buildings and temporary shelters. She discovered that ISIS had abducted at least 2,000 women during the attack. As some of the abducted women started to escape, Latif sought them out and offered Asuda’s care. She learned that women were being tortured, sold, sexually abused and forced into labor and publicized these atrocities locally and globally.

Personal life

Latif is married to Kamal Rauf, a journalist in Iraqi Kurdistan and Director of Sharpress publications and has one daughter.

Awards

In recognition for her work and contribution to women's rights in Iraq, Latif received the Vital Voices 15th Global Leadership Award for Human Rights. She was honored on 9 March 2016 during a ceremony held at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. The award honored Latif together with three other activists: Hafsat Abiola-Costello, Akanksha Hazari and Yoani Sánchez.[21][22][23]

References

  1. ↑ "Kongra Kurdistan".
  2. ↑ "Inspirational Women Leaders". Global Fund for Women. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  3. ↑ "EXPERTS". hbv-awareness.com. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  4. ↑ "Global Leadership Awards | Vital Voices". www.vitalvoices.org. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
  5. ↑ "Khanim Rahim Latif: We have to be United". VOA. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  6. ↑ Aid, Christian. "Women's rights – at election time and beyond - Christian Aid". www.christianaid.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  7. ↑ Chulov, Martin (2010-07-05). "The razor and the damage done: female genital mutilation in Kurdish Iraq". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  8. ↑ "One Woman Is Risking Her Life to Save Thousands in Iraqi Kurdistan". TakePart. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  9. ↑ "Time for a Rethink". Qantara.de - Dialogue with the Islamic World. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  10. ↑ "Honour Based Violence Report IKR and Kurdish Diaspora" (PDF).
  11. ↑ "IRAQ COUNTRY OF ORIGIN IN FORMATION (COI) REPORT" (PDF).
  12. ↑ "law | Equal Power - Lasting Peace". www.equalpowerlastingpeace.org. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  13. ↑ "New weapon's law in Iraq deadly threat to women - Kvinna till Kvinna – works for peace and gender equality". Kvinna till Kvinna – works for peace and gender equality. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  14. ↑ "Meet the Bold, Brave Woman Fighting for Women's Rights in Iraqi Kurdistan". AnonHQ. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  15. ↑ "The feminists on the frontline". Stylist Magazine. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  16. ↑ Twitter, Michele Kelemen. "Sister's Forced Marriage Started Iraqi Woman On Activist Path". NPR.org. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  17. ↑ (design), echonet communication gmbh (http://www.echonet.at), gregor borbely (css / html / templates), norbert adenberger (php / database), anja merlicek. "Frauen-Ohne-Grenzen.org | Women-Without-Borders - SAVE - Activities". www.women-without-borders.org (in German). Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  18. ↑ Lattimer, Mark (2007-12-13). "Freedom lost". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
  19. ↑ "How picture phones have fuelled frenzy of honour killing in Iraq". The Independent. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
  20. ↑ "Building a New Iraq: Women's Role in Reconstruction" (PDF).
  21. ↑ "Global Leadership Awards".
  22. ↑ "Women, Always Postponed". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
  23. ↑ "Vital Voices - 15th Annual Global Leadership Awards". Exposure. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
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