Delegate of Syrian Arab Republic

Position Paper for SOCHUM

The topics before the SOCHUM committee are: Gender Based Violence Across The World; and

Displacement of Women in Areas of Armed Conflicts. Syrian Arab Republic is keen to find a solution

from the international communities in regards to the Gender Based Violence in the ongoing conflict

provided that it does not violate the basic constitution.

Gender Based Violence Across The World

The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women defined Gender Based Violence as,

Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or

psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary

deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. According to WHO reports,

35% of women all over the world suffered abuse from their spouse or partner (WHO). In Syrian

Arab Republic, despite not having a specific clause against discrimination, Syrian women

enjoyed more rights than their Arab counterparts. The article 45 of the Constitution states women

have the right to all the opportunities that enable them to participate fully and effectively in

political, social, cultural, and economic life. In 2003, Syria agreed to the conditions laid out by

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

despite having some concerns about articles 2, 15 and 16 (OECD Development Center). But the

rise of the Syrian Civil War and the emergence of radical groups like ISIS violate womens rights

and severely limit their freedom (HRW). According to a report release by a US based NGO called

International Rescue Committee, these rapes are a significant and disturbing feature of the

Syrian civil war, sometimes by multiple perpetrators (Proudman).Extremist groups like

ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra are undermining the freedoms that Syrias women and girls enjoyed,

which were a longtime strength of Syrian society, said LieslGerntholtz, womens rights director

at Human Rights Watch. Syria is prepared to fight against ISIS and its radical idealism. The

Syrian foreign minister said that Syria is willing to co-operate and co-ordinate, with any side,

including the US, or join any regional or international alliance against ISIS (The Guardian). One

of the most important steps to curb this problem was taken by The Kurdish province of Jazira,

which defied ISIS rule by declaring a decree on womens rights. The decree supported the

equality between men and women in all spheres of public and private life. (Reuters). Moreover,

Syria urges for strong international support to cut off the funding for rebel groups and the ISIS, so

that they cannot acquire weapons to claim control over other territories.

Displacement of Women in Armed Conflicts

The Syria Arab Republic has been under the rule of the Baath Party since the 1960s. During this time,

the Baath Party promised for full equality between both the genders and full participation for

women in workforce(Tohidi). However, Syria has descended into a civil war after Pro-democratic

activists holding protests in 2011 were shot by the government forces(Lucy Rodgers). This

escalated into a civil war between the government supporters and the rebels. By June 2013,

90,000 people were killed in the conflict and the numbers rose to 220,000 by 2015. Moreover, the

emergence of ISIS has also further fueled the war. More than 11 million people were forced to

leave their homes as the civil war took its worst turn. According to a report by the Human Rights

Watch, women refugees from Syria are being sexually harassed by their employers, landlords and

sometimes by aid workers (UNHCR). More than 145000 Syrian families fled to countries like

Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon or Iraq. One out of the four families is being run by a woman. Women

had to pay a heavy price for the war as they are either forced to flee their homes or face torture in

their homeland. The UNHCR chief Antonio Guteress said, For hundreds of thousands of women,

escaping their ruined homeland was only the first step in a journey of grinding hardship. They

have run out of money, face daily threats to their safety, and are being treated as outcasts for no

other crime than losing their men to a vicious war.The ongoing war between the rebels and the

government prevents the collection of accurate data on the gender based violence in Syria.

However, the UNFPA reported that they provided psychological treatment to 33430 people in

Syria during 2013 and to another 4800 in Damascus, Idlib and Homs(Miles). There has to be

efforts to properly record all the casualty statistics along with the rates of Gender Based Violence.

However, the solutions remain limited and do little to help the women. From this committee,

Syria hopes to find a proper solution to the Gender Based Violence against the women in the

conflict which does not clash with its Constitution.

Works CitedHRW. Syria: Extremists Restricting Womens Rights. 1 13 2014.

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Lucy Rodgers, David Gritten, James Offer and Patrick Asare. Syria: The story of the conflict. 12 3 2015. .

Miles, Tom. U.N. aided 38,000 victims of Syrian gender-based violence in 2013. 8 1 2014. .

OECD Development Center. "Syrian Arab Republic." 2014. Gender Index..

Proudman, Charlotte Rachael. "War rape: The forgotten pandemic sweeping Syria." The Independent 21 1 2013.

Reuters. Syria region defies ISIS, issues womens rights decree. 9 11 2014. .

The Guardian. "Syria offers to help fight Isis but warns against unilateral air strikes." The Guardian 26 8 2014.

Tohidi. Women in muslim societies: diversity within unity. Ed. Nayereh Herbert L. Bodman. Boulder: L. Rienner, 1998.

UNHCR. "Woman Alone: The Fight For Survival By Syria's Refugee Women." 2014.

WHO. Violence against women. November 2014. .