Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights registers surge in suicides in Kirkuk

According to statistics obtained by KirkukNow from the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights IHCHR, Kirkuk witnessed 98 “suicide” cases reported and recorded, 78 of whom were females aged 20 and up.

Sajjad Jumaa, head of the Kirkuk office of IHCHR, said the number of suicides has increased this year compared to 2020.”

 In Kirkuk, 65 “suicide” cases were recorded in 2020, 50 of which involved women. “Most of the suicides are between the ages of 20 and 45,” said Sajjad Jumaa, who pointed out that the main reasons behind these cases are “domestic violence, psychological disorders and deteriorating living conditions.”

According to the latest statistics from the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, more than 772 cases of “suicide” have been recorded across Iraq. This number turned out to be higher than in 2020, when 663 cases were recorded, according to the semi-official Iraqi Media Network. Some of the cases involved girls under the age of 14 who are driven to suicide because they are forced into early marriage.

According to the statistics, 55.9 percent of those who ended their lives are men, 40 percent are married people, more than 36 percent are under the age of 20, and 32 percent are between the ages of 20-30.

According to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, “the causes of suicide were stress in 35.22 percent of the cases, psychological disorders in 34.64 percent of the cases, poverty in 13 percent of the cases, unemployment and other issues in 9.5 percent of the cases.”

The Human Rights Commission official urged all government agencies and religious leaders to make efforts to reduce “suicide” rates.