Iraq urges women to report online extortion
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq's Communications and Media Commission (CMC), the state body that regulates media and telecommunications, called on citizens on Tuesday to report digital violence against women and any abusive online content targeting them.
The commission held with the High Commission for Human Rights a workshop focused on the risks women and girls face online, particularly electronic extortion and privacy violations, and on building awareness of digital security and protection from online threats.
Asaad Nabil, the official in charge of the international coordination file at the CMC, said the commission's media monitoring section tracks cases of digital abuse and has launched community-based monitoring mechanisms that treat citizens as partners in reporting content that targets or harms women and girls.
Ayam Sharif Jawad, legal advisor at the Baghdad office of the High Commission for Human Rights, told Shafaq News that the rise in electronic extortion and the use of artificial intelligence to fabricate images and videos falsely attributed to women and girls prompted the workshop. She pointed out that some perpetrators use fabricated material to pressure victims, threatening to publish it unless they comply, placing women under heavy psychological and social strain, particularly where their own reputation and that of their family are at stake.
She also urged women and girls facing such crimes not to yield to blackmail and to report quickly through the 911 emergency line or through community police and security agencies.
Many victims hesitate to come forward out of fear and social pressure, said Suad al-Rawi, who took part in the workshop, making digital security awareness and clear information on legal protections a necessary step. She called for stronger cooperation between government institutions and civil society organizations to support and protect women subjected to online violence.
According to the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, Iraq recorded a 150% surge in domestic violence, with authorities logging 36,289 cases in 2025 compared to 14,000 in 2024. Assaults by husbands against wives dominated the recorded cases, at 19,587.
Read morel: Iraq's Women: Fighting for rights in a patriarchal stronghold
