Suicides without explosives

[k98nights]

Suicides without explosives

06/06/2011 09:45

Erbil, June 6 (AKnews) – Iraq is well known for suicides. The word itself may conjure images of jihadists in explosive vests and of devastating attacks.

There is a quieter story to tell – without explosives and no media attention. And it does not take place in cities like Mosul, the infamous center of violence in Iraq, but in little towns like Sinjar in Nineveh province, close to the Syrian border.

There are no insurgents in Sinjar, but there are suicides.

One of the nearly 8,000 citizens of Sinjar was a young girl, just 17 years old. Her family was relatively wealthy; the girl had her own room in her parents’ house.

That is where she hanged herself.

Barakat Isa is a journalist who covered this story and many others. He counted nine young people who killed themselves in Sinjar only in the last four weeks. Eight of them were women.

Isa collected their stories and each one of them is a story of sadness and despair.

Like the story of Um Kanaan’s son. He was her oldest son and a father of four children himself. Um Kanaan was proud of him, even though he was not proud of himself. He did not have a job and had problems to care for his family. In April, he set himself on fire and died.

There are no official statistics about suicides in Iraq, but towns like Sinjar offer a glimpse of a problem that is growing in Iraq.

The authorities in Nineveh province estimate that 25 people in Sinjar have committed suicide in the last four months. With only 8,000 people living in the city, the suicide rate exceeds even that of Belarus, where about 73 people per 100,000 citizens end their own lives.

Since Iraq does not keep statistics on suicides, there has been little research on the reasons behind them.

An old man in Sinjar does not want to disclose his son’s name, since he is too ashamed. He calls his son Abdullah. He has little left after his son killed himself, but a letter that Abdullah wrote shortly before he died.

“He wrote he could not go on living in such a country”, the man says, “So he shot himself in the head.”

Dr. Samir Kzafi is psychologist for the Nineveh health department. Abdullah’s suicide note sounds typical to him.

“Unemployment and the security situation in Nineveh province create a lot of psychological pressure for young Iraqis”, he says, “That is a reason for the escalation in the number of suicides among young people here.”

The explanation sounds plausible and it might even be true – but only for men. In the case of women the situation may be more complicated.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) dealt with the situation of women in its last human rights report in 2009. UNAMI reported the case of a 17-year old girl that was allegedly killed by her father. A so-called “honor killing”, where a family tries to restore its honor after a daughter allegedly misbehaves. However, the case was registered at the local police station as a case of suicide.

“UNAMI has received reports that many other cases of honor killings may be misreported as suicides to avoid prosecution”, the report said.

In Sinjar, eight out of nine reported suicides in the last four weeks were committed by women, a unique ratio if you compare it to other countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) analyzed suicide rates in different countries as they were provided by national governments. For example in the United States, 17.7 men and 4.5 women out of 100,000 citizens commit suicide every year. In Kuwait, it is only 2.5 men and 1.4 women. Although women are more likely to attempt suicide, men are more likely to succeed in killing themselves.

There is no country in the world where more women commit suicide than men – except in parts of China, with 14.8 women and 13.0 men in 100,000 citizens per year.

So it could also be that a number of suicide cases are actually murder cases.

However, the number of suicides is increasing in Sinjar and Barakat Isa is furious that nobody seems to care about it. He particularly blames civil society organizations and cultural centers.

“There are rarely any events to raise awareness for this issue”, Isa complains, “And if any, they are exclusively for political party cadres and members of government organizations.”

With daily killings and suicide bombings in Iraq, the country may have bigger problems to deal with than suicides in small rural towns, but these suicides may easily become one of its bigger problems.

By Christopher V. Unger (AKnews)

Khidir Khalat and Rean Ahmed contributed to this story

http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/8/244872/

[DaveH]

I really hate to hear news like this. Such a waste of something so precious, that can never be replaced.

[HYDRANT]

THANKS K98

[4Horsn2]

I really hate to hear news like this. Such a waste of something so precious, that can never be replaced.

I couldnt agree more. I've had some pretty down times in the last 7 years, and not once has this been an option.

[DaveH]

I couldnt agree more. I've had some pretty down times in the last 7 years, and not once has this been an option.

Same here.

Just recently a member of my crew did not show up for work on time. We were headed 1000 miles away to do the job and he missed the bus so to say. He overdosed later that day. Very sad.