Number of widows in Iraq has steadily increased after the U.S. invasion in 2003 (Jazeera)
According to a report of the New York Times that the number of widows in Iraq has risen to about one million because of the wars of Iraq, has seen a steady increase after the invasion led by the U.S. in 2003.
The newspaper said that widows are not a new problem in Iraq, in particular, that the war with Iran in the eighties of the last century has left tens of thousands of women widows.
Each disaster has left after the war more widows, including the 1991 war with the United States, and the failed uprising of Shiites that followed, as well as the repression against the Kurds, in the words of the newspaper.
And estimates that the Iraqi Ministry of Planning 9% of the women of Iraq, about 900 thousand of widows, while the Ministry of Women raised the estimate to about a million.
The report of the United Nations to reach a peak of sectarian violence in 2006 resulted in about 100 the widow of a day.
These estimates coincide with the report reveals a fall of between 130 thousand and 113 thousand in the recent war, according to the census in Iraq.
The report also includes thousands of troops killed 10 Iraqis at the beginning of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, as well as an unprecedented number of officers and soldiers during the clash with the "rebels, as well as those who were killed in sectarian violence.
Aid
Given the large number of widows, the Iraqi government does not provide only minimalassistance from not more than $ 80 per month for those who have become widows in the recent conflict.
According to Noria behind which became a widow four years ago, "We expected to receive more assistance from all parties, both from the Americans or the Iraqi government, but the truth is that no one cares about us."
The paper points out that the camp widows - which includes mobile homes near Baghdadand supervised by the government - a challenge socially difficult to resolve, particularly as the number of women than men in Iraq, which holds opportunities for marriage of widows.
And confirms it back, which says that a widow with a small number of children may findopportunity for marriage again, noting that the opportunity in front of a small because it hassix children.
Source: New York Times