2026-07-21T14:09:14+00:00

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Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission (CMC), the state
body that regulates media and telecommunications, called on citizens on Tuesday
to report digital violence against women and any abusive online content
targeting them.

The commission held with the High Commission for Human
Rights a workshop focused on the risks women and girls face online,
particularly electronic extortion and privacy violations, and on building
awareness of digital security and protection from online threats.

Asaad Nabil, the official in charge of the international
coordination file at the CMC, said the commission’s media monitoring section
tracks cases of digital abuse and has launched community-based monitoring
mechanisms that treat citizens as partners in reporting content that targets or
harms women and girls.

Ayam Sharif Jawad, legal advisor at the Baghdad office of
the High Commission for Human Rights, told Shafaq News that the rise in
electronic extortion and the use of artificial intelligence to fabricate images
and videos falsely attributed to women and girls prompted the workshop. She pointed
out that some perpetrators use fabricated material to pressure victims,
threatening to publish it unless they comply, placing women under heavy
psychological and social strain, particularly where their own reputation and
that of their family are at stake.

She also urged women and girls facing such crimes not to
yield to blackmail and to report quickly through the 911 emergency line or
through community police and security agencies.

Many victims hesitate to come forward out of fear and social
pressure, said Suad al-Rawi, who took part in the workshop, making digital
security awareness and clear information on legal protections a necessary step.
She called for stronger cooperation between government institutions and civil
society organizations to support and protect women subjected to online
violence.

According to the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, Iraq
recorded a 150% surge in domestic violence, with authorities logging 36,289
cases in 2025 compared to 14,000 in 2024. Assaults by husbands against wives
dominated the recorded cases, at 19,587.

Read morel: Iraq’s Women: Fighting for rights in a patriarchal stronghold