\n 2026-07-21T14:09:14+00:00<\/p>\n
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Shafaq News- Baghdad<\/p>\n
Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission (CMC), the state
\nbody that regulates media and telecommunications, called on citizens on Tuesday
\nto report digital violence against women and any abusive online content
\ntargeting them. <\/p>\n
The commission held with the High Commission for Human
\nRights a workshop focused on the risks women and girls face online,
\nparticularly electronic extortion and privacy violations, and on building
\nawareness of digital security and protection from online threats.<\/p>\n
Asaad Nabil, the official in charge of the international
\ncoordination file at the CMC, said the commission’s media monitoring section
\ntracks cases of digital abuse and has launched community-based monitoring
\nmechanisms that treat citizens as partners in reporting content that targets or
\nharms women and girls.<\/p>\n
Ayam Sharif Jawad, legal advisor at the Baghdad office of
\nthe High Commission for Human Rights, told Shafaq News that the rise in
\nelectronic extortion and the use of artificial intelligence to fabricate images
\nand videos falsely attributed to women and girls prompted the workshop. She pointed
\nout that some perpetrators use fabricated material to pressure victims,
\nthreatening to publish it unless they comply, placing women under heavy
\npsychological and social strain, particularly where their own reputation and
\nthat of their family are at stake.<\/p>\n
She also urged women and girls facing such crimes not to
\nyield to blackmail and to report quickly through the 911 emergency line or
\nthrough community police and security agencies.<\/p>\n
Many victims hesitate to come forward out of fear and social
\npressure, said Suad al-Rawi, who took part in the workshop, making digital
\nsecurity awareness and clear information on legal protections a necessary step.
\nShe called for stronger cooperation between government institutions and civil
\nsociety organizations to support and protect women subjected to online
\nviolence.<\/p>\n
According to the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, Iraq
\nrecorded a 150% surge in domestic violence, with authorities logging 36,289
\ncases in 2025 compared to 14,000 in 2024. Assaults by husbands against wives
\ndominated the recorded cases, at 19,587.<\/p>\n