Qamishli women's campaign against violence opens

A coalition of women’s groups in northeast Syria opened a campaign against violence toward women on Sunday, November 8. The Joint Activities Platform of Women’s Movements and Organisations in Rojava announced the launch in a statement read out at the “12 March” stadium in Qamishli.

The campaign runs under the slogan “Unite to stop violence against women, Woman Life Freedom”. It starts today and continues until November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

The platform described violence against women as a rights, political and humanitarian issue. Beyond physical, psychological, verbal and sexual abuse, it said, violence also takes economic forms, such as denying women education and work, as well as political and institutional forms that push them out of public life and decision-making.

Syrian women have paid a heavy price during years of war, displacement and lost security, the statement said, and remain underrepresented in institutions and in negotiations over the country’s future. “Instead of women being a key partner in building the new Syria, we find that their presence in many political tracks is still limited,” the text said.

The group also addressed the ongoing integration process, warning that it must not shrink into a reshuffle of posts and powers. Without clear legal and political guarantees, it said, the process could roll back gains won by women in North and East Syria, including their management of institutions and the co-presidency system.

Among its demands, the platform called for constitutional guarantees of full equality between women and men, clear mechanisms for women’s participation at every level of decision-making, effective laws against domestic, economic and sexual violence, recognition of women’s organisations in national dialogue, a gender perspective in transitional justice, and independent bodies to monitor violations of women’s rights.