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Five Things You Need to Know About Syrian Women's Grassroots Organisation in the Context of the Talks on Syria

4 February 2016

Women’s Groups in Syria: Peacemakers and Social Rebuilders

In the context of the UN talks on Syria, this article aims to bring to light particular characteristics of Syrian women’s grassroots organisations that form crucial actors for change on the ground, but are far too often marginalised from negotiations and the peace process in general. The below information is primarily based on findings included in a study on women peace activism in Syria conducted by Badael, a Syrian non-governmental organisation, entitled Peacebuilding defines our future now (2015).

1) Women’s peace activism efforts in Syria come in all shapes and forms. While women groups constitute the primary actor carrying out the peace activism work on the ground, numerous activities and efforts are being conducted by individual women activists inside Syria. Women’s peacebuilding efforts and activities are undertaken in areas controlled by all warring parties to the conflict, and cover a wide array of issues that include, but are not limited to:

  • Enhancing women’s roles in peacebuilding through political empowerment (Idleb, northern Syria);
  • Promoting civil peace and coexistence (Aleppo, northern Syria);
  • Combating child recruitment (Deir Ezzor, eastern Syria);
  • Raising awareness on consequences of violence and women’s involvement in politics and negotiation processes (Al-Hasaka, northeastern Syria);
  • Engendering the constitution and transitional justice mechanisms (Damascus and its countryside)
  • Raising societal awareness on peaceful coexistence and combating violence (organisations with cross-border activities).
Map
Types of peacebuilding activities by region in Syria. For a larger version, click on the photo and scroll to page 22-23. Credit: Badael Foundation.

In addition, peacebuilding activities carried out by individual women activists mainly revolved around negotiations on the ground (either with militants to protect civilians, or between two militant groups), mediation efforts to release detainees, revenge-deterring mechanisms to prevent potential violence, and even combating the proliferation of small arms. Examining the geographical distribution of these diverse forms of peace activism reflects how women’s efforts were not spontaneous or uncoordinated – rather, they were carefully tailored to respond to the needs identified in the respective communities.

2) Contrary to popular belief, ISIL is not the main or sole threat to women’s activism on the ground. While most of civil society organisations established in now ISIL-controlled areas have vanished after the latter took power, some women groups are still pursuing their activities but in absolute secrecy and with different frameworks than those previously adopted. In addition, women activists in ISIL-controlled areas face severe restrictions in dress codes and movements, and can even face public beheadings for their activism work. However, ISIL does not constitute the primary or only danger to women in general and activists in specific. In reality, the Assad regime is responsible for 94% of the toll of women killed since the outbreak of the revolution in 2011 until October 2015, compared to 1.16% for ISIL. The obsessive focus on ISIL as the main threat to women (and civilians in general) in Syria is not only inaccurate but significantly undermines the life-threatening hardships they endure from other parties to the conflict on a daily basis. Women activists in regime-controlled areas also face detention, torture, sexual abuse, enforced disappearance, and last but not least, indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas.

3) Women activists and groups in Syria are compelled to face a twofold confrontation in the conflict. What this entails is that in addition to the challenges and threats civilians and activists face in general – mainly the lack of safety, bombardment of civilian areas, indiscriminate detention, enforced disappearance and many more – women activists and groups have to confront and surmount entrenched patriarchal attitudes to pursue their activism efforts. Activists whose accounts were included in the Badael report said that the patriarchal and conventional perceptions of women as victims, dependent and child-bearing beings severely undermine women’s peace activism efforts and the latter are all too often encountered by societal stigmatisation and familial rejection.

4) Syrian women activists and groups are turning oppression into activism tools. While patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes against women constitute a significant challenge to continuing their peace activism efforts, Syrian women in the Badael report indicated that many activists are taking advantage of these preconceptions to their peacebuilding efforts’ benefit. In fact, Syrian women activists are creatively transforming the obstacles they are facing into advantageous tactics so as to remain active and influential. For instance, many Syrian female activists are using the preconceived stereotype that ‘women are innately peaceful’ in order to influence mediation processes and prevent violence in their communities. Another example is how women activists are benefitting from restrictive dress codes (niqab) in ISIS controlled areas to hide their identities and thus avoid being persecuted for the peaceful work that they do.

5) Lack of funding, not security threats, is the overall main reason behind activities being terminated. Although the ongoing militarisation of the conflict in Syria constitutes the main and most threatening challenge to women’s peacebuilding efforts, other components can also negatively impact the continuity of their work. Lack of funding, as phrased in the Badael report, is “the overall main reason behind activities being terminated”. In addition, women’s groups also raised the issue of the genuine need of staff training, specifically in political, social and economic empowerment in order to “raise women’s awareness of their rights and thereby enhancing their role in peacebuilding”.

The Badael report provides a unique observation into women’s peacemaking activism efforts inside Syria. It identifies the numerous fields in which women are making a significant change, pinpoints the challenges they are enduring, and also provides recommendations for the international community and Syrian actors to build upon women’s activism.

Women’s Peacemaking Efforts in Syria: A Lead to Follow

Syrian women’s peacebuilding efforts and initiatives are not only generating peace and preventing violence at the grassroots level; in fact, they constitute substantial examples and sources to follow in designing a national plan tailored to local contexts. As such, they similarly form an opportunity for the international community to “support the birth of a stable locally pioneered future for a pluralistic equitable Syria” (Badael report).

Syrian women’s groups and activists have strong capacities to influence the peace process; in fact, WILPF strongly considers using this narrative blocks the path to inclusive peace and flagrantly excludes women by using an erroneous alibi pertaining to a lack of capacity. WILPF believes that one main way for the international community to do so is to call for and guarantee that women groups and activists are included in the peace process in a substantive manner and at all levels. This implies shifting the narrow focus on national and international formal negotiations to a broader peace-building framework that encompasses inclusive and diverse apparatuses, beyond the obsolete male-dominated processes. The change of discourse on women’s participation must be shifted from a normative “why participate?” to a practical and efficient “how to participate?” – and the Crisis Response Programme at WILPF has recently published a blog on the numerous available modalities for Syrian women groups to be included in the peace process. In addition to the international community, Syrian political bodies must ensure women groups’ participation; however, not as an attempt to please international actors’ demands, but as a genuine need to include them as influential peacebuilders without whom the peace process is not only incomplete, but also unsustainable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Matt Mahmoudi

Matt Mahmoudi (he/him) is a lecturer, researcher, and organizer. He’s been leading the “Ban the Scan” campaign, Amnesty International’s research and advocacy efforts on banning facial recognition technologies and exposing their uses against racialized communities, from New York City to the occupied Palestinian territories.

Berit Aasen

Europe Alternate Regional Representative

Berit Aasen is a sociologist by training and has worked at the OsloMet Metropolitan University on Oslo. She has 40 years of experience in research and consultancy in development studies, including women, peace, and security, and in later years in asylum and refugee studies. Berit Aasen joined WILPF Norway five years ago. She is an alternate member of the National Board of WILPF Norway, and representing WILPF Norway in the UN Association of Norway, the Norwegian 1325 network and the Norwegian Women’s Lobby. Berit Aasen has been active in the WILPF European Liaison group and is committed to strengthening WILPF sections and membership both in Europe and relations across continents.

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Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

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Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

IPB Congress Barcelona

WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.