UN aspirations for gender equality in the Kurdistan region of Iraq

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) is both an island of stability amidst a tumultuous region and a traditionally conservative society in need of outside resources to address the challenges that arise with ensuring women’s equality. Fortunately, the United Nations and its partner organizations have committed such resources to the KRI and now play a critical role in tackling the structural impediments to women’s progress.

In this article, I review what actions the United Nations has undertaken thus far in the KRI and which ones they intend to implement in the future. The principles that motivate and inform the UN’s activities in the KRI are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Although there are seventeen SDGs—with each of them having the possibility of being creatively applied to women’s issues—for the purposes of this review, I was specifically interested in SDG 5 and 16, namely: (5) Gender Equality, plus (16) Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. I would add that the more you delve into the work that the UN has been conducting in the KRI, the more you realize that these SDGs are intertwined and form a symbiotic relationship. [...]