ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some of the important issues related to survival and rebuilding life, as recounted by the women themselves. Rebuilding life after Anfal was a major challenge for women. Many Anfal surviving families initially returned to their villages but left once again a few years later as a result of urbanisation, drought and civil war. The UN's Oil for Food programme in 1997 gave Iraqi civilians basic food stuff in return for Iraqi oil. In 1992, after several minor armed skirmishes the Iraqi army withdrew from the Kurdish region. With the rapid involvement of International NGO's and with help from Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) thousands of villages were gradually rebuilt in the early to mid-1990. Bassuk argue that social deprivation extends beyond poverty. Social exploitation also took place when women, who had no Identity Cards and marriage certificates, were deprived of their children and their husbands' inheritance.
