International Women’s Day represents an annual opportunity to recall that most of the countries with their different political, legal, social and moral systems are at a distance from adopting the rules necessary to liberate women and empower them economically and socially, and to provide them with equal opportunities to play a key role in leading states and societies.
Syrian women have tasted the bitterness of war and are still suffering from its consequences, whether they are those languishing in prisons, or those who are fighting against economic and social tyranny. Today we remember Razan Zaitouneh and Samira Khalil who were kidnapped by Jaysh al-Islam, the different parties of the conflict in Syria, and especially the Syrian government, have committed all kinds of violations against women. Unfortunately, these violations continue undeterred due to the prevailing concept of impunity, and the continued dominance of patriarchy on different aspects of economic, social, political and cultural life.
Studying the reality of Syrian women occupies an essential part of the SCM’s work today, as the main aim is to secure a better future for them and society in general. In this context, SCM intensifies its publications on the violations against Syrian women, as several studies have been published in recent months.
War is a product of masculinity and a kind of domination over the other(s), and women are vulnerable today to the negative consequences of this domination. With the escalation of violence as a result of conflicts and wars in more than one country, from Myanmar to Ukraine, Syria and the countries of the Arab Spring, this ensures the importance of the efforts aimed for accountability against the perpetrators and the importance of working to end impunity in order to achieve justice and to ensure that such crimes are not repeated.
Today, the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression salutes all women, including Syrian women, and calls on the international community and the United Nations bodies to work seriously on empowering women in various aspects of life, and to commit to stopping wars wherever they are; While it renews its demand for the release of female detainees from prisons in Syria, regardless of the authorities controlling them, and to disclose information about the missing persons, regardless of the party that kidnapped them, and calls upon the countries hosting refugee women, both neighbours and other, to stop the forced deportations, and to provide a helping hand to Syrian refugees instead of these threats.
