How to Respond to Trauma: Building Capacity to Strengthen Support Systems Building capacity at the local level is crucial to promote sustainable change and empower communities. SEED regularly works with local NGOs and government institutions to build the skills of frontline service providers and enhance the support systems in place for survivors of [...]
SEED Celebrates Graduation of 70 SEED Girls on International Day of Girl Child As the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of formal educational institutions and programs globally, including in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), SEED embraced the use of technology to ensure safe interactions with our clients, including online. One such [...]
‘I have possibilities now,’ says Mohamad after 16 years of not knowing his birth name or true age “I want to exist on paper to follow my dreams,” Mohamad,* a 16-year-old who was abandoned by his biological parents, told his SEED Foundation lawyer, who has been supporting Mohamad’s legal efforts to obtain his [...]
C4JR Media Statement on Implementation of the Yezidi Survivors' Law August marked the seventh anniversary of the 2014 Yezidi genocide. SEED, as a member of the Coalition for Just Reparations (C4JR), urges the Iraqi government to adopt strong regulations to begin implementing the Yezidi Survivors’ Law, a major step forward in advancing the rights [...]
SEED Girls Program Launches To Support Adolescent Girls in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq Adolescence is the developmental stage between childhood and adulthood, during which girls experience significant physical, intellectual, and emotional changes. These natural changes can often increase their stress and anxiety, compounded by pressure from social norms and more household responsibility. This [...]
Access to Client-Centered Services Critical to Supporting Survivors of Trafficking Tara*, 52, came to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) from South Asia in 2018, having been recruited for a well-paid domestic worker position. Upon arrival, her employment agency failed to obtain her residency (iqama), instead moving her to several locations in the KRI and [...]
SEED Launches GBV and Referral Training Program for Police Officers from Sulaimani's 104 Emergency Police Unit To combat gender based violence, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) passed the 2011 Family Law which criminalizes domestic violence. The law provided for the creation of the Department of Combating Violence Against Women and Families (DCVAW), which to respond [...]
SEED and DCVAW sign MOU to enhance cooperation on countering GBV in the Kurdistan Region SEED Foundation Vice President Tanya Gilly Khailany and Director General of the Kurdistan Region’s Directorate of Combating Violence against Women and Families (DCVAW) Kurda Omar signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Erbil on July 27 to enhance their organizations’ [...]
Legal Framework of Laws and Protections for Survivors and Those at Risk of GBV The GBV Legal Framework provides an analysis and overview of the primary laws in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq that provide legally binding protections against GBV for survivors and those at risk. SEED created [...]
#StopDomesticViolence Domestic violence - or violence in the home - is a type of gender-based violence (GBV) and is endemic across the Kurdistan Region and in Iraq. It is largely perpetrated against women and girls due to inherent power structures and gender inequality. Although the Kurdistan Region has legal protections [...]