Digital Violence Against Women in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region

This paper examines digital violence against women and girls in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region. It draws on stakeholder consultations facilitated through the Baghdad Women Association, SecDev Foundation research, and a targeted review of relevant literature and policy frameworks. The paper argues that digital violence is not a collection of isolated incidents but a system-level challenge in which legal, institutional, educational, and digital governance gaps reinforce one another.

The authors contend that the central obstacle is less a shortage of initiatives or resources than insufficient coordination and sequencing across interventions. In response, the paper proposes a phased set of short-, medium-, and long-term recommendations designed to strengthen protection, improve institutional coordination, and embed digital safety within the Region’s broader governance and education systems.