March 2016 marked five years since peaceful demonstrations and calls for democracy in Syria led to a government crack-down and bloody civil war which continues today. In recent weeks, the negotiated cease fire has made life somewhat easier, and the Syrian people have come out onto the streets again, calling for the same things they called for in demonstrations in March 2011. At CSW60 at the UN in New York, I attended a moving presentation by a group of Syrian women activists seeking peace and democracy, freedom, justice and fundamental human rights. A standing-room only crowd of over 125 people jammed into the basement of the Salvation Army building on East 52nd Street listened intently to these women's stories.
The panel included Mariam Jalabi, a member of the Syrian Women Network and the Syrian Feminist Lobby, and a founding member of the Syrian Non-Violence Movement; Rafif Jouejati, a spokeswoman for the Local Coordinating Committees in Syria, a Director of FREE-Syria, and a member of the Executive Committee of The Day After Project; Lama Kannout, a Syrian political and women’s rights activist, a coordinator of the Syrian Feminist Lobby, and member of the Coordination Committee of the Coalition of Syrian Women for Democracy; and Ambassador Mara Marinaki of Greece, the European External Action Service and Principal Advisor on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace & Security. UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is leading the Syrian peace negotiations taking place in Geneva, met with the panelists in Geneva at the Human Rights Council, and sent a video message to endorse efforts to involve women in the peace process. The panelists thanked the Swedish Government for their continued support.
This powerful panel opened my eyes, and hearing these women's voices opened my earsand touched my heart, much more than reading articles in the newspaper could ever do. I've tried to capture their words and their passion.
Women need to be given a role in the political and peace processes. Women are resilient, creative and a critical resource for post-war stabilization of the country. Women are actively working to build peace at the local level, but women made up only 1 in 40 peace signatories over the past 25 years. The inclusion of women in the Syrian peace talks will strengthen the political representation and help achieve a broad-based agreement. Women peace activists called for critical mass of 30 percent of women at the negotiating table.
Syrian women are not only victims of the conflict, but are human rights advocates, calling for safe spaces for families, release of detainees, transparent monitoring of ceasefire violations, accountability for war crimes, and access to vital humanitarian services. They insist that the whole range of war crimes being committed on a daily basis should not be left unpunished.
The increasing numbers of refugees fleeing the conflict and the spread of terror and violent extremism has led the international community to take small steps that do not take into account the crux of the conflict and therefore permit the conflict to continue.
Syria is witnessing the greatest humanitarian disaster in the modern era. Syrian people want to live in freedom and build their own democracy. Despite calls to refer the Syria crisis to the International Criminal Court, the international community expresses only “concern.” There can be no liberation of women from the historical injustice without democracy and a fair distribution of power and, therefore, the removal of dictatorship.
Syrian women are twice as likely as men to be killed by shelling and air strikes, and five times as likely to be killed by chemical weapons. Syrian women are more likely to be raped or tortured than graduate from high school. Syrian women increasingly face the hardships of being single heads of households and families. But we are more than victims, we are activists, journalists, lawyers, humanitarians, leaders. Women play a crucial preventive role in families and communities to preempt radicalization and violent extremism. The women on this panel are all working to make sure that women are not bystanders, merely observers to Syria’s peace and transition, and that Syrian women are equally engaged in the political process, because what's best for Syrian women is best for all Syrians.
The Syrian Freedom Charter, developed by the Free Syria Foundation, is based on a survey of over 50,000 Syrians from all over the country, as well as refugees and expatriates. It is a statement of what the Syrian people want for their future. The Freedom Charter is a national unity document and can contribute to the new Syrian Constitution. It can also be an educational tool by which freedom, dignity, and democracy can be further debated in the Syrian national dialogue.
There will no just peace as long as Assad remains in power. Refugees will continue to come to Europe. ISIS will stay in power. The Syrian people will not give up. We will get there no matter how long it takes. During the recent cease-fires, as soon as it was relatively quiet, people were back out on the streets, waving the flag of the democracy movement and calling for freedom, dignity and democracy for all Syrians.