Syrian Coalition: Assad Regime’s Violence Against Women Must not Go Unpunished

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Nora Al Ameer, Vice President of the Syrian Coalition, said that “the international community must stop ignoring violence against women who have actively engaged in the revolution and tried to end the Assad regime’s decades-long monopoly political life in Syria. Rather than responding to their demands for change by giving them the chance to express their opinions through ballot boxes, the Assad barrage pummeled them with barrel bombs as a punishment to their effective role in the revolution. The plight of Syrian women was aggravated by the international silence towards the crimes committed against them. Moreover, Assad’s crimes and violations against women has so far been ignored and unpunished, so Syrian today has lost confidence in whatever claims they defend their rights.” Al Ameer stresses that the international law should not be limited to diagnosing the problems faced by women, as there is a need for incrimination of all acts of violence against Syrian women. Penalization is one of the basic characteristics of the law, and without it law loses its effectiveness in reducing crime. It is necessary, therefore, to put pressure on Assad’s allies to stop disabling the functions of the Security Council and international law. The Russian and Chinese vetoes have so far shielded Assad against any condemnation of his brutal crackdown not only on Syrian women, but on the Syrian people as a whole.” Al Ameer also said that the Assad regime has used systematic violence against women in an attempt to suppress the will of the Syrian people since the early days of the revolution. The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said in a report that This report records that 15,347 women were killed by government forces including 4,194 female children whilst ISIS killed no less than 81 girls and all the other armed faction killed 255 women in total. No less than 6500 women experienced detention by the Syrian government, 2500 among them are still detained or disappeared. 32 women died under torture. ISIS detained about 486 women whilst various armed factions detained no less than 580 women. The report documented that many female activists were subjected to arrest, torture, and sexual abuse. Also, many women activists’ movement were harassed and others’ clothing was restricted In ISIS-held areas. “Through interrogation, the arrested woman faces types of humiliating, hitting, and systemized torturing, which in many cases doesn’t aim to force her of confessing, but to spread fear among other arrested women and intimidate the community of arresting women consequences, especially that the Syrian community is considered as a conservative community,” the report said.