Increasing women’s safety through self-defence training

In Iraq, women and girls are frequently confronted with the reality of sexual and gender-based violence. According to the 2021-22 Women, Peace and Security Index, nearly half of women in Iraq experienced intimate partner violence in the preceding 12months and a staggering 40 percent of women and girls reported they do not feel safe in their communities. Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation (BHHF) is committed to supporting women and girls and increasing their confidence, sense of empowerment, safety, and protection against sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). One-way BHHF pursues this goal is through self-defence trainings.

During 20– 24 November 2022, BHHF conducted self-defence training as part of the #16 Days of GBV activism to eliminate violence against women and girls. Over five days, BHHF engaged 110women and girls from government agencies, non-government organisations, as well as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugee women and girls from Khazarand Qwshtapa camps in Erbil to provide this training, facilitated by an international team of professional coaches.

 If we want to reduce sexual and gender-based violence and rape, we should start by providing women and girls with these skills and self-defence techniques

Amanj*, one of the participants who works in GBV and Protection spoke to BHHF about just how important it is for women to learn how to defend themselves. For Amanj, learning self-defence is one of the most important things for women to learn, and that every woman “should have the opportunity to learn how to physically protect themselves. If we want to reduce sexual and gender-based violence and rape, we should start by providing women and girls with these skills and self-defence techniques so they can use them to try and protect themselves if they are attacked”.

Several months following the training, Amanj continues to practice what she learned and share her new skills and knowledge with family and friends, including posting videos from the training on her social media accounts. Amanj received many messages from both her men and women friends, asking her for more information about what skills she learned and where they can participate in self-defence training.

Amanj was very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of BHHF’s self-defence training. She had previously been part of similar trainings, however her experience with BHHF’s training was different as it was “full of information and included lots of practical activities, and the BHHF team were amazing and very friendly”.

 could one day save my life, or the life of another woman

Amanj told BHHF that what she learned “could one day save my life, or the life of another woman”.

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