The Syrian Woman’s Suffering in Light of International Women’s Day
Introduction
The Syrian woman has been actively involved in the various aspects of the Syrian revolution since March 2011 across Syria. The Syrian woman was notably involved in coordinating peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins. Many Syrian women were active as paramedics, doctors, and media activists. Consequently, many violations have been perpetrated against the Syrian woman by government forces (Army forces, security forces, local militias, and foreign militias) first and later by other parties.
We highlighted the violations against Syrian women in no less than 20 reports the most recent of which was entitled: “The Syrian Woman in the midst of the Syrian Conflict” which was published on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 25 November, 2014. Today is the International Women’s Day and on this occasion we are updating our documentation of these violations as we note that these violations haven’t stopped. We added new incidents that we documented over the past few months. Perhaps the most notable violations against Syrian women are the kidnappings that are being carried out by YPG to conscript these women.
The Syrian crisis is, above all, a humanitarian crisis that involves human rights violations even though it is being presented as a geo-political crisis. This is an attempt to escape the reality of the Syrian crisis.
The international community can reduce the severity of the crisis by implementing the Security Council resolution which came very late. No one is talking anymore about resolution 2139 and putting an end to the indiscriminate attacks that have been carried out since 22 February. 1720 women were killed by barrel bombs alone; those women are documented by name, picture, and video footage. Additionally, four of those women were killed by poison gases because the Security Council has failed to implement resolution 2118.
Fadel Abdulghani, head of SNHR, says:
“The Syrian woman has made sacrifices that no other woman in the contemporary age has made. Nonetheless, her suffering and sacrifices1 have not been highlighted enough.”
The methodology of this report is based on SNHR archive that has been compiled through the ongoing daily monitoring and documenting since 2011 in addition to the direct meetings and survivors’ testimonies that were collected via phone and Skype. This report contains six testimonies in which women tell their story as activists and then victims while other women continued working even after they were victimized.
It should be noted that what he were able to document is the bare minimum of the violations against the Syrian woman in light of the huge risks, the ban, and pursuit. Additionally, the local communities have lost interest and faith in the documentation process because of the international community’s complete inability to protect them over the past four years.