Although the Kurdish regional parliament has officially recognised other minorities such as Assyrians, Turkmen, Arabs, Armenians, Mandeans, Shabaks and Yezidis, and guarantees equality, there have been multiple accusations of attempts to "kurdify" them.
To incorporate Nineveh other Christian lands into Kurdish territory, it was claimed Kurds have offered minorities inducements while at the same time "wielding repression in order to keep them in tow".
HRW also stated that "KRG authorities have relied on intimidation, threats, and arbitrary arrests and detentions, more than actual violence, in their efforts to secure support of minority communities for their agenda regarding the disputed territories".
A Chaldo-Assyrian leader described the Kurdish campaign to Human Rights Watch as “the overarching, omnipresent reach of a highly effective and authoritarian regime that has much of the population under control through fear.
Despite the progress, Kurdish and international women's rights organizations still report problems related to gender equality, forced marriages, honor killings and female genital mutilation (FGM) in Iraqi Kurdistan.
In 2009 Human Rights Watch found that health providers in Iraqi Kurdistan were involved in both performing and promoting misinformation about the practice of female genital mutilation.
[18] The rights of the LGBT community (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) in Iraqi Kurdistan have been a topic of public debate since 2016, when the LGBT+ movement gained momentum with the efforts of organizations such as IraQueer,[19] Rasan, and the Lava Foundation (later rebranding as Yeksani in 2021).
[22] Activists and members of the LGBT community face discrimination and social stigma, with religious conservatives using the "people of lot" story to sway public opinion against them.
"[25][26][27] On January 5, 2023, Yeksani reported that Ali Hama Saleh, a Kurdish politician, had filed a complaint against them at the General Attorney, because they publicly advocate for LGBT+ rights.
[28] On September 4, members of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq proposed a bill to the Parliament that, if approved, would penalize individuals or groups who advocate for the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
Additionally, the bill would temporarily revoke the licenses of media companies and civil society organizations that promote homosexuality for a period of up to one month.