Prominent human rights advocate Baroness Helena Kennedy QC is to deliver a keynote speech on Tuesday, at an event to mark the publication of a Charter for the Rights and Freedoms of Women in the Kurdish Regions and Diaspora.

Kurdish Women's Project and Kurdish Human Rights Project are publishing the Charter in English, Kurmanji, Sorani and Arabic languages on Tuesday.[1]

Discrimination against women occurs globally, but is all the more damaging when compounded with ethnic, religious or other forms of discrimination. Women in the Kurdish regions and diaspora, therefore, face an uphill struggle as they attempt to tackle discrimination on several fronts. Located in a position of great strategic importance - inhabiting the region spanning the borders of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria - millions of Kurdish women continue to witness the devastating effects of wars, military attacks and economic embargoes.

Against this backdrop, Kurdish women have been pushing hard to achieve the enforcement of human rights. The Charter for the Rights and Freedoms of Women in the Kurdish Regions and Diaspora has been continually developed to ensure that it appropriately identifies the needs and wishes of women in the Kurdish regions and diaspora. International and domestic bodies are urged to consider seriously the domestic incorporation of the rights and needs identified in the Charter in both letter and spirit.

Speakers from a women's organisation in Iraqi Kurdistan together with Kurdish Women's Project and Kurdish Human Rights Project will also participate in the event, occurring on Tuesday 22 June 2004 from 6.30 to 8.30pm at the House of Lords in London. [2]

EDITOR'S NOTES

[1] KWP & KHRP, Charter for the Rights and Freedoms of Women in the Kurdish Regions and Diaspora, KHRP (London: 2004) ISBN 1 900175 71 1 - available from KHRP or online www.khrp.org

[2] Room 134, House of Lords, Millbank House, London, SW1A 0PW (tube: Westminster).