Delsoz Khalaf
Delsoz Khalaf is a woman human rights defender from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. She is the director of the Dabin Organisation for Democratic Development and Human Rights, which is a human rights organisation based in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Her work focuses primarily on women’s rights, labour rights and anti-corruption.
Since October 2019, a new wave of peaceful demonstrations have been organised in Iraq unifying different ethnic and political groups, following years of protest movements by different sectors of society. The demonstrations were led by Iraqi human rights defenders protesting the government itself as well as non-state armed and political groups, endemic corruption, economic struggle and to demand basic and functioning state services. Police, military and armed groups quashed these demonstrations with lethal force, suppressing their rights to assembly and free speech. Live ammunition was used against peaceful protesters, which resulted in the death of hundreds of demonstrators including many human rights defenders while others were abducted and attacked.
