Kurdish Women

Open Democracy: Self-immolation in Kurdish Iraq by Sophie Cousins - Why has self-immolation become an alarmingly common trend in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein?

Many women feel trapped in arranged marriages and with few other options turn to suicide to escape. Another form of abuse taking place across the region is coerced self-immolation. In essence, as one NGO worker explained to me, the woman is told by her husband or male relative “tomorrow you will not be here, make yourself disappear”. And she does just that.