The press release, which was held for the freedom of women and children in the Syrian prisons, and which included participants from 45 countries, was widely reported in the media.
The Conscience Movement made a press statement with the participation of activists from 45 countries at the Halic Congress Center in order to release the women and children in the Syrian prisons immediately. “Release Syrian women right now!” call was made at the hearing which was supported by people from 110 different countries.
More than 13,500 women have been imprisoned in Syria so far, and more than 7,000 women are still being tortured, raped and subjected to various inhumane tortures. The Syrian regime has used rape as a weapon and continues to use it.
Last year, in order to draw attention to the tragedy experienced by women in the Syrian war Conscience Convoy has arrived in Hatay from Istanbul, and this year it operates under the name of “Conscience Movement” in order to remove the barriers to freedom. Politicians, journalists, academics and human rights defenders from different parts of the world gave their support to the Conscience Movement.
The Conscience Movement, which carries out its activities with the slogan “Because We are Human“, will continue its activities until the last woman and child in Syria is free. The conscience movement believes that people should live in dignity and humanely without being persecuted and tortured regardless of their religion, language, race or color. The movement aims to bring awareness to the suffering of women that has grown continuously since the beginning of the Syrian war, due to rape, murder, detention, and displacement.
First began in Istanbul
The Conscience Movement, which will perform a series of programs until March 8, 2019, first began its works with an international press release at the Istanbul Haliç Congress Center. A call for the immediate release of Syrian women and children was made with the participation of 45 different countries
Many outstanding names like Azerbaijani artist Azerin, Mandelaens grandson and member of parliament Chief Mandela, Mothers of Srebrenica, the first Muslim member of the British Parliament Hon Baroness Pola Manzila Uddin, Ecuadorian member of parliament Ana Belen Marin Aguirre and the Ukrainian member of parliament Olga Bogomolets participated in the press release.
“It is not possible to explain what happened in Syria”
The first speech was made by General Coordinator of Conscience Movement, Yavuz Dede. Yavuz Dede said that the movement was supported by Turkey and over 2 thousand NGOs all over the world stating the Conscience Movement is established with the support from 110 countries. “It is not possible to explain what happened in Syria” Dede continued, “the actions will continue until 8 March, International Women’s Day” he said. “During this time, we will perform various activities through social media. Our participants from 45 countries will organize different events in their own countries” Dede added.
February 20th Call
Attorney Gulden Sonmez, spokesperson for the Movement for Conscience, read the Turkish press release. Gulden Sonmez called saying “release women and children prisoners in Syria unconditionally!” in the statement. Sonmez, emphasizing the painful tragedy experienced by women and children who are imprisoned in Syria, said:
“We invite all people to take effective measures to protect women and children in wars. We invite all the international mechanisms particularly the United Nations, including the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the strength and initiative of leaders of all states, especially Turkey, Russia and Iran are invited to make efforts in this regard. We invite all consciences around the world to raise their voice from today onwards until the last Syrian woman and child is free.”
The release is read in 3 languages
Colin Stevens, a journalist participated in the Conscience Movement as a Belgian citizen of British origin, read English-language press release while the Arabic release was read by Aisha Al Qassar, a lawyer and human rights defender who was included in the movement from Kuwait.
“They threatened me with rape”
Syrian woman Majed Sharbajy, who was tortured in Syrian prisons for seven months and lost her husband in a dungeon, said she was threatened with rape in prison. “They took off my hijab in front of my husband many times” said Sharbajy, she explained what she had been through as follows:
“It is not possible to express what we have been through there. They didn’t let us take a bath for 3 months. Now, infestations with lice started to occur. People were dying next to us because of torture. Then they were burying those deceased people in mass graves. The reason why they did this was to hide the persecution from the world. There were many pregnant women in prison with us. None of them were given medication, and all were trying to make their voice heard by screaming to repeat this demand. Not only women but also men were tortured. A 4-year-old boy was constantly crying and they were never fulfilling his demands. It is impossible to summarize what we have been through there. But I want to say that the regime is doing all kinds of torture and I want to announce the voices of captive women to the world. I applied to the United Nations. Maybe I can’t change things, but I think I’ve done my part in history.”
“Tears have no color”
Memur-Sen President Ali Yalcin also said:
“What happened in Syria is a shame. I believe that the Conscience Movement is an important step taken in a situation where the institutions that need to establish peace are unable to do their part. We all came together here having different beliefs. However, the tears have no color. We are all human beings and our sufferings are the same. I think our voice will have a butterfly effect if we combine our strength. I would like to express our full support to all activities of Conscience Movement with more than 1 million members of ours.
“Syrian women should be brave”
A mother of Srebrenica, Nermina Lakota:
“I’m not surprised at what happened in Syria because a very short time ago, this genocide took place in Srebrenica. We are still trying to find the bodies of our brothers and sisters killed in Srebrenica. The only thing that I can offer to Syrian women is that they should be brave and to not give up bringing war criminals to court one day. It is a source of hope for Syrian women to have Srebrenica Mother as an example in front of them.”
“Women, children and humanity should no longer die!”
Azerbaijani Artist Azerin:
“Children and women are killed in Syria. They are tortured and persecuted. I am here as a man who has not lost his conscience, not just as an artist. We are no strangers to what happened in Syria. Children and women were brutally murdered in the Khojaly genocide. Unfortunately, the world was silent and turned a blind eye to it. Just like in Syria. Today I urge the whole world to listen to the voice of their conscience. I also urge all the states of the world to a world where women and children are not killed. Finally, I say, women, children and humanity should no longer die..”
11 different speakers from all over the world
Later, the following names took the floor and expressed their support for the Conscience Movement:
Hon Baroness Uddin from British Parliament, Mandela’s Grandson and a MP Chief Mandela, Malaysian Ruling Party MP Mohamed Arif, Ecuadorian MP Ana Belen Marin Aguirre, Tanzanian MP Mgeni Hassan Juma, Ukrainian MP Olga Bogomolets, Afghanistan Member of Assembly Fawzia Raufi, Australian MP Maha Abdo Oam, Pakistan MP Munaza Hassan, President of the Supreme Council of the Muslims of Kenya Yusuf Abdulrahman Nzibo and Qatar Women’s Sports Committee President Lulva Al-Mary.
After the speeches, the exhibition was opened and the program ended.
Wars that threaten
human life and nature by definition lead to deaths, injuries, mass migrations
and collapse of the society as a whole. The recent events in Syria represent
the most tragic example in this respect. Disproportionate use of force by the
Syrian government against the civil movement that started with peaceful
protests in March 2011 provoked the war in the first place and then caused
hundreds of thousands loss of lives and the displacement of millions of people.
The intervention of international actors to the already chaotic region also
intensified the current problems in Syria.
Women and children
are the ones that suffer the most due to the increasingly chronic crises in
Syria, particularly in terms of humanity, politics and economy. In the country,
despite all the rules and regulations, including that in the context of human
rights, violations, including the violence and rape against women have become a
weapon of war and magnified the social collapse. Moreover, the suffering of
millions of vulnerable and innocent women that died, injured, prisoned or became
refugees inflicted deep and incurable wounds in the Syrian community. Saving
the Syrian women and children from death does not sound sufficient enough for
them to live an honorable and peaceful life. The tragic events in the past and
the condition of thousands of women that are still doomed to live as captives
demonstrate a sad realization that no one is safe in the country.
The present report
narrates the conditions and experiences of the women that are unlawfully detained
in the Syrian prisons.
Methodology
One of the most
negative consequences of the warfare in Syria is the challenge in acquiring
reliable information from the field. The primary data used to prepare this
report were compiled by means of studying the reports prepared by human rights
organizations. Among these, the field reports and observations of the following
organizations have considerable weight:
United Nations Human Rights Council
Human Rights Watch,
Amnesty International
Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR),
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR),
Humanitarian and Social Research Center
(İNSAMER),
The Human Rights and Justice Movement (İHAK)
IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation
Besides written
materials, the interviews with the women that were detained in Syrian prisons
and then released also constitute an important data. This report was also generated
based on their statements. These interviews were done voluntarily. The events
told by the people who gave their consent for the interviews done while this
field study were documented and recorded by means of voice recording and video
shooting. The names of the interviewees have been changed and used in the
reports accordingly to ensure both their safety and the safety of their
relatives living in Syria.
The interviews
were conducted through face-to-face meetings with former captive women who are
now living in Syria and Turkey. The women were asked open-ended questions and
their responses and the case studies were consolidated with the literature
reviews in psychology, political science and human rights and incorporated into
this study as data.
Current Situation and Human Dimension in Syria
Peaceful
demonstrations that took place in Syria during the spread of “The Arab Spring”
in the Middle East in 2011 degenerated into a civil war upon increased violence
inflicted by the Assad regime despite calls for reform from international
arena. Some countries and groups pursuing their own priorities and agendas took
sides in the conflicts and this situation deepened the crisis and led the war
to become chronic.
Although there are
complex alliances in flux since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, we can
refer to three major blocs as of the current stage: The first bloc is the Assad
regime and its supporters Russia and Iran, and this bloc has a control on 60%
of the country. The second bloc was created under the leadership of USA since
2014 in the name of the fight against ISIS and led today by PYD/YPG as an
extension of PKK in Syria and it controls approximately 30% of the country. The
third one involves regions under the control of Turkey and opposition groups
that fall under Free Syrian Army (FSA), and this bloc holds approximately 10%
fraction of the country.
Despite several
meetings between the representatives of the regime and opposition in Geneva to
bring a resolution to the war since 2012, no significant developments surfaced.
A similar peace process was initiated in Astana-Kazakhstan, held by Turkey,
Russia, Iran and the opponents but this too did not result in a radical outcome
so far. Even though Turkey pursued a common diplomatic process with Russia and
Iran during the summits in Astana, it dissociated from them with respect to the
schemes about the future of the Assad regime. Following the call made after the
quarto-lateral summit (Turkey, Russia, France, Germany) held with the
participation of major European countries in Istanbul on October 27, 2018, it
is expected that the relevant committee will assemble to draft the constitution
in 2019.
The
Syrian was has not just stolen the present life of the Syrians, but also the
future of the country. To put in numeric figures the human and pecuniary losses
of the war, approximately 450 thousand civilians were killed in Syria since the
beginning of the war.[1] More
than 6 million Syrians were internally displaced and more than 5 million people
had to migrate outside of the country due to security concerns. Statistics
derived from several researches reveal that 75% of the Syrians refugees are
women and children. Based on the UN data, it is estimated that there are still
540,000 people living in the regions under siege as of June 2017.[2] On
the other hand, it is identified that there are currently more than 13.1
million people and 5 million 300 thousand children in need of help in Syria.[3]
The
85% of deaths in Syria is a direct consequence of the war and the remaining %15
resulted from the war-related conditions such as famine, disease etc. It was
highlighted that 77% deaths out of 85% direct mortality rate pertain to the
civilians living in the war territories and 8% was comprised of the people who
were displaced in the country. Women and children constitute the majority of
people who lost their lives under circumstances such as famine, diseases or
deprivation due to the war.[4]
Violation of International Laws in Syria
UN Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry published
numerous reports and press releases up to the present day about the violation
of rights in Syria.[5]
Several international organizations such as Amnesty International and the
International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR) also produced various reports
during the eight years of warfare. Considering these reports and in conclusion of
the one-to-one interviews with the victims in Syria, it is evident that the Syrian
people were subjected to all kinds of acts prohibited under international
treaties during the war and imprisonment.[6]
The violations
during the civil war in Syria are considered to be “war crimes” due to breach
of common Article 3 of Geneva Convention and its 2. Supplementary Protocol dated
1977 as well as La Haye Convention dated 1954[7] and
“crimes against humanity” due to breach of Article 7 of ICC (International
Criminal Court) Rome Statute.[8]
International laws
of war are regulated in general through Geneva Conventions (1949) and its Supplementary
Protocols (1977) and La Haye Conventions (1899 and 1907). These conventions
regulate armed conflicts between countries in general that have international
impact in a sense. Common Article 3 of four separate Geneva Conventions
stipulates the regulations with respect to the protection of civilians during
conflicts, which have various definitions such as “civil war” or “riot” and are
considered not to have an international impact. Additionally, Supplementary
Protocol No. 2 dated 1977 also addresses aforementioned matter.[9]
On the other hand,
“Crimes Against Humanity” are defined as “acts including widespread and
systematic attacks against a civil population” in the article 7 of Rome Statute
which is the constituent document of International Criminal Court (ICC). Acts
of crimes against humanity include homicide, rape, exile, mass killing,
torture, forced disappearance of people, unlawful imprisonment in violation of
international rules of law and deliberate aggravation of living conditions.[10]
Despite the fact
that armed conflicts in a country involving the state and non-state actors are
defined as “non-international armed
conflicts” in terms of war laws, there is no detailed description in the
relevant conventions. Taking Syria into consideration where the conflicts involve
multiple actors, it is a crystal clear fact that the concepts are open to
debate. Therefore, the conflict in Syria was defined as “civil war”, although
the warfare of eight years can be subject to different descriptions due to the
intervention of several countries and groups and its widespread impacts.
The soldiers of
the regime, intelligence agency and Shabiha militia are the actors that commit
the crimes against humanity and numerous violations within the scope of war
crimes during the civil war in Syria. Certain terrorist organizations and
opposition groups in the region, the extensions of ISIS and PKK in Syria in
particular, also engage in activities contrary to international laws.[11]
World public
witnessed countless violations of rights in Syria since the very beginning.
People demonstrating peacefully with political and economic concerns suffered
from suppression of demonstrations by the regime through violence. The demands
that can be considered as part of freedom of opinion and expression pursuant to
article 18 and 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights[12] were
suppressed murderously. Homicides[13],
arbitrary detentions[14],
torture and inhuman conducts[15] by
the regime constitute clear violation of demonstrating people’s basic rights
such as life and freedom. There are tens of reports prepared by Syrian human
rights organizations about these incidents.[16]
According to the
Common Article 3 of Geneva Convention, people without any active role in the
conflicts, including members of armed forces who laid down their arms and
people who cannot combat due to factors such as disease, injury, arrest, should
be treated humanly under all circumstances regardless of any criteria such as
race, religion and belief, gender etc. Offenses against the lives and physical
integrity of aforementioned people, mutilation, all types of torture and
persecution, abduction, taking hostage, degrading and dishonorable treatment,
convictions made without a court that satisfies legal assurances deemed
indispensable by civilized nations and implementation of such convictions are
absolutely forbidden.
People who were
detained and then released by the regime forces described in detail how they
were subjected to violation of rights in every way. As a consequence, the addresses
indicated by the witnesses and the treatment they were inflicted there legally constitutes
important pieces of evidence for the lawsuits to be filed against the regime.
Another important problem is that there are many detainees who disappeared
without any further sight or sound. The regime does not share any information
about the disappearances and people investigating about their missing relatives
are hindered under the threats of the regime as well.
Forced
disappearance or abduction is one of the major violations in Syria. 95.056
people are believed to be missing, according to the figures published by
international organizations.[17] It
is stipulated in the “International Convention for Protection of All People
Against Forced Disappearance” of United Nations that no one shall be subjected
to forced disappearance.[18]
One of the most
dramatic developments about “forced disappearances” was that a Syrian military
police who defected with code name “Cesar”, photographed cases of criminal
offense as a crime scene officer in Syria for 13 years, delivered 55 thousand
photographs of 11 thousand people in January 2014. The authenticity of the
photographs were confirmed upon examinations by the experts and they revealed
that 11 thousand people including women and children were murdered by means of
several methods such as systematic torture and starvation.[19]
The use of weapons
and bombs by the Syrian regime against their own people constitutes one of the
main violations in terms of war crimes. Cluster munitions containing other
explosives at the size of a grenade to make a wider impact have been used in
Syria since 2012. More than 90 countries, except Syria and Russia, signed The
Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo in 2008.
Barrel bombs, made
by filling petroleum barrels and cooking vessels with glass shards, nails and
explosives up to 1000 kilograms, were dropped by the regime to places densely
populated by civilians such as schools, hospitals and market places. According
to the reports of Syria Human Rights Monitoring Agency, the regime declared
that they killed 12,179 people with 5150 barrel bombs between 2012 and 2015 and
96% of casualties were civilians.[20]
Chemical weapons
causing instantaneous and drastic killings are prohibited by international law
in the strongest terms. The Assad regime proclaimed in 2012 that they had
chemical and biological weapons but they would never use them providing there
was no foreign intervention. This is because they are a party to “Geneva
Protocol on Prohibition of Choking, Poisonous and Similar Gases and
Bacteriological Agents Used in Wars” that was enacted in 1928 and they are
forbidden to use such weapons. Moreover, on September 14, 2013, the Syrian
regime also signed “The Convention on Prohibition of Development, Production,
Storage and Use of Chemical Weapons and Their Annihilation” dated 1992.[21]
During the autopsies
conducted following the attack in Saraqib in 2013, sarin gas was detected in the bloods of the deceased, which is
included in the UN’s prohibited weapons list as a kind of chemical weapon. The
report presented to UN Security Council after the observations by UN confirms
the use of chemical weapons and the report explains that “most probably” the
Baath Party was responsible for the attack.[22]
As per articles 7, 10
and 11 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone is equal under the
law and when incriminating a person, he/she should be judged in a public trial
by unbiased and independent courts, allowing him/her to defend him/herself.
While Syrian judicial system already had structural defects, punishments of
civilians at military courts continued since Hafız al Assad period on the
grounds of “threatening the national security”. People judged at military
courts could not benefit from several basic rights, pursuant to “Governmental
Decree no.109”. To list a few of these rights deprived are the right to an
attorney, right of the detainee to see his/her family and attorney, the
requirement of starting interrogation within 24 hours of detention. Due to
secret trials, information about the fate of the judged could only be obtained
after the sentence of the court was passed but sometimes their relatives could
not get any information at all.[23]
Violations Against Women in Syria
Women suffer from
various violations of rights during armed conflicts in different parts of the
world, despite the regulations for protection of civilians under international
law. Between 1992 and 1995, thousands of Bosnian women were prisoned, inflicted
with physical and psychological torture and raped by Serbian soldiers.[24]
Israel imprisoned more than 10 thousands of Palestinian women during last 50
years and as of 2019, 52 women are still held in Israeli prisons.[25] 2100[26]women
in Egypt and more than 1400 women[27]in
Iraq – due to being wives of ISIS members – are still in prisons. The Chinese
government captivated at least 2500 Uyghur women in the places they call “the
training camps”.
Instances of
physical, psychological and especially sexual violence, which is used as a
weapon of war to insult people’s dignity, are commonly experienced in Syria.
Cases of violation in all sorts happen during the raids by the forces of the
regime and – most frequently – in the prisons.
The decree of UN
Security Council (UNSC) no.1325 issued in 2000 about actions of sexual violence
that fall under the scope of both crimes against humanity and war crimes under
international law calls for the protection of women during the conflicts and
emphasizes the active participation of women in the resolution of conflicts.[28] The
decrees of UNSC with numbers 1820, 1889, 1960, 2106 and 2122 in the following
years also address the protection of women and prevention of sexual violence.[29]
The alleged
grounds for detention and imprisonment of women are based on completely
unlawful reasons. Some of the captive women in Syria were detained on the
grounds of taking part in peaceful demonstrations at any given time, in
defiance of their rights to congregate and demonstrate. Another group of women
were detained in order to put pressure on someone who is a family member supporting
the opposition or suspected to support anti regime groups. A third group of
women is comprised of paramedics. These women were health officers who were
also accused of providing medical assistance to the opponents in any way.
The first reason
given for the detention of women is on the contrary to the practices of
universal law regulating the right to demonstrate and also contradicts the
current laws in Syria. The situation of women who were detained on the grounds
of having a family member in support of the opponents complies with neither neither
any international legal rule nor the principle of “individual criminal
responsibility” stipulated in the laws of Syria in force. Moreover, the detention
of health personnel is contrary to Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the Protocol of
Geneva Convention dated 1977 regulating “the conditions of medical staff under
civil war”. Article 9 refers to the
requirement of protection for medical personnel and Article 10 stipulates that
personnel shall not be penalized provided that medical ethics is observed,
regardless of who use medical intervention during warfare.
In brief, just as
almost all of aforementioned international legal rules were breached in Bosnia,
Iraq, Palestine and East Turkistan in the past, they are violated blatantly in
Syria today. Women in particular became the number one target of the Syrian
regime for the sake of silencing opposing voices in the country. Captivity,
violence and rape against women turned in to a weapon of war. Both field
studies and interviews with previously imprisoned women reveal that thousands
of women were victimized in various ways in Syria by the forces of the regime and
its supporting actors.
For
instance, 22,823 civilian women were killed during a 5-year period between
March 2011 and November 2016. 12,164 of these women killed were adults above
the age of 18 and the remaining 10,659 were young girls.[30]
According to the researches conducted in 2015, 2,615 of 21,179 people killed
were women. The Syrian regime is responsible for 15,748 of these deaths, 1,957
being women. It is known that 1,546 of these dead people were killed by means
of torturing.[31]
Based on a study done in 2016, 2,562 out of 16,913 killed by the Syrian regime
and other actors in the region were women. The Syrian regime is responsible for
8,736 of these massacres 1,237 being women, and Russia is responsible for killing
of 3,967 of which 684 were women.[32]
1,536 out of 10,204 civilians slaughtered in Syria in 2017 comprised of women
that had nothing to do with the war. 4,148 of these dead people (of which 591
were women) were killed by the Syrian regime and 1,436 (of which 284 were
women) were killed by Russia. The number of civilians massacred in December of
the same year is 569. 285 of them, 34 being women, were killed by the Syrian
regime. It is known that the death of 211 people killed in 2017 was caused by
infliction of tortures on them.[33]
A
special report issued for World Women Day mentions that it is the Syrian regime
and its allies who were responsible for 91% of 23,502 women who were killed
during first 6 years of war. It is known that 65% of these women were killed as
a result of bombings in Syria.[34]
The
losses of war increase exponentially each day. A dramatic example in this
respect is where there were 976 people being killed under tortures just in
2018.[35]
It is also known that 1,361 women were killed by bombings and due to conflicts
in the same year.[36]
Another research in 2018 states that 13,084 out of 111,330 people which were
killed by conflicting groups in Syria were women.[37]
The
current violations of rights in Syria do not stop here. Right after the
eruption of anti-government protests against the Syrian
regime in March 2011, Syrian authorities started mass arrests. According to the researches, the number of people arrested
since 2011 reaches 117,000.[38]
It is estimated that at least one tenth of these i.e. more than 11 thousand
people are women.[39]
Many
people lost their lives under detention since the arrests executed in 2011. For
instance, it was noted that just in 2012, 865 captives were killed through the
exposal to violence.[40]
The figure in this respect is 490 for the year 2013.[41]
In 2014, a dramatic increase occurred in the number of people who lost their
lives in detention. It was found that 2,197 people died under detention,
indicating an increase of 360%.[42]
According to Amnesty International, 13,000 prisoners were executed by hanging
in Saydnaya Prison in the vicinity of Damascus.[43]
According to the date obtained from SOHR,
30,000 people died in Saydnaya. The same
research claims that more than 100,000 thousand people who were arrested by
Syrian regime died from being exposed to torture since March 2011.[44]
The figures contain no information about execution of women; therefore the
death rate of women captives could not be confirmed.
Captive Women
UN bodies and non-governmental organizations report
that violence and abuse inflicted on women are used as a weapon of war in Syria.
Male relatives of women and girls who were detained for being an opponent were
killed before their eyes and many women and girls were raped and then
immediately massacred since they witnessed aforementioned executions.[45] Despite the fact that the majority of detainees
arrested by Syrian forces between 2011-2017 were men above 15 years of age,
thousands of women and girls were also imprisoned including female lawyers and
reporters who expressed their anti-government opinions. Arrested female
relatives of men accused of supporting the opponents, or being a member of an
armed group, were subjected to various exploitations during their detention.
The
majority of the victims include women at the age of 18-45. However, some
studies documented that girls below 9 years old and elder women were also
exposed to all kinds of violation and humiliation including sexual assaults.
Some witnesses noted that even seven-months pregnant women were raped and
moreover, some women at earlier stages of pregnancy were raped and had
miscarriages due to said action.[46]
Apart from killing
and rape, women were subjected to many other humiliating and dishonorable acts.
For instance, women were forced to
walk naked in front of the tanks on the streets of Karm al-Zeitoun (Homs) in
March 2012. At an interview with a 16 year-old girl from Karm al-Zeitoun
recalled how during the period two women were raped in front of her and the
same girl mentioned that she was forced to walk completely naked before the
tanks for a couple of hours.[47]
It is considered a
valid reason to imprison thousands of women in Syria when their husbands or
relatives are being opponents to the regime. These women suffered from
physical, verbal and psychological violence during the raids to their homes, at
checkpoints or at the prisons where they were detained, without any accusation
or trial. For instance, in October 2012, a young
woman was stopped at a checkpoint in a rural area of Damascus, and then she was
taken to a military vehicle and raped by an officer of the Syrian army. The
same officer then burnt the unfortunate woman’s hair.[48]
Today, even though
it is not possible to give an exact number with respect to Syrian women who
were subjected to several tortures and rape and those who are still in
detention, it is estimated that the number is between 6,700 and 13,000, based
on the testimonies by the relatives of these women and the reports of different
human rights organizations.[49]
Another report in 2017 estimates the number of arrested women as 7,571. [50]
According to the
reports prepared based on the statements by women who were imprisoned in the
prisons of Syria and then released somehow, women detained by Syrian regime are
usually kept in the following prisons:
Adra Prison,
Kefer Suse Prison,
Hama 4. Military Intelligence Unit,
Al Suwaida Military Security Unit,
National Security Organization 251. Department,
Leş Beloni (Homs),
Palestine Military Intelligence Unit (Damascus),
Al Khatib Branch (Damascus),
Military Interrogation Center in Damascus (Mezze),
According to local
sources, there are a lot of underground prisons built by converting the
basements of some buildings in Syria, apart from aforementioned prisons. There
also hospitals transformed by the Syrian regime into prisons to keep hundreds
of people unlawfully.[52]
Some of previously
imprisoned women, who were subjected to various dishonorable acts such as
threats, blackmail, insult, verbal and physical violence, personally described
the maltreatment inflicted upon them in these prisons and their devastation
caused by these treatment. Moreover, most of these imprisoned women lost their
lives in these prisons due to reasons such as torture, starvation, unhygienic
conditions etc.
Taking into
consideration the fact that the most vulnerable individuals in the regions of
war and conflict are women and children, women are both war victims and a
political blackmailing instrument; and they are subjected to countless traumas.
The most commonly known violence inflicted among these is physical, sexual and
psychological violence, which are also considered as war crimes. Many captive
women were exposed to various tortures, injuries and sexual harassment in some
way.[53]
However, another
point that misses the attention is that the tragedy of these captive women is
more to what they experience during detention. Many Syrian women who were
detained unlawfully are labeled in a degrading way because they were raped in
the prisons and this situation causes them to be excluded by their families and
the society; they are condemned, had to emigrate from their homes, or to be
left by their husbands if they are married. Due to all these social realities,
many women who escaped somehow from Syrian prisons do not report these tragic
events they experienced and chose to remain silent. Therefore, most of the women could not even
receive a treatment to recover from the traumatic events they were subjected to
and they have to struggle with those tragic events alone. [54]
The majority of
these women are known to be people who still live in Syria or whose some of
family members stay in Syria. To put it in another word, the reason why they
remain silent is the fear to be arrested again and/or the fear for their
families to be harmed by the Syrian regime due to their statements or pursuit
of justice, apart from aforementioned reasons.
On the other hand,
a minority of these women decided to share what they have gone through and to
make their voices heard despite all. In this section of the study, some parts
of face-to-face interviews conducted with Syrian women who were imprisoned for
various reasons and exposed to torture, and demonstrated courage to share the
their tragedies and their life stories will be narrated. As a result of drastic
events they experienced, many individuals developed physical, behavioral,
cognitive, psychological and social impacts. The following are the impacts
commonly seen in most interviewees:
Raniye Halebi
(RH), from Homs is married and a mother of three. When RH was arrested at a checkpoint
in Homs in May 2015, she entrusted her children to their aunt since she was
told that the interrogation would take 1 to 2 hours. Then, RH was taken to
another place accompanied by the soldiers. She was interrogated there about her
deceased brother and her husband who were members of Free Syrian Army (FSA). At
the end of the procedure, RH was labeled as a terrorist and she was accused of
many accusations including complicity and association with the opponents. She
was subjected to severe torturing when she refused the crimes that she did not
commit. She describes the torture and interrogation as follows:
“They told me that they would kill me if I do not answer their
questions. In fact they tied my hands on my back and hung me to the ceiling.
When I was hung, they continuously asked the same questions and forced me to
reply and of course they beat me; they hit my back, my arms, my belly and my
head with plastic pipes and all they wanted from me was to answer their
questions and accusations in the way they expected, regardless of whether or
not I was guilty. They intensified the torture when I resisted to all these and
I fainted due to heavy torturing… The place we were staying was very cold.
Sewer rats were passing by our sides. I could hear the sounds of torture from
where I sat. I saw young people, all of them with their underwear with their
hands hanging. They were tortured in the places where we passed by when going
to the toilet or being taken somewhere else. I was more terrified after seeing
that scene, when they interrogated me again. Moreover, they gave us meals with
bugs inside… We were more than 15 people under the ground and it was so dark.
There were screams of the tortured all around, all the time… This situation
continued for 2 months. Then, I was sent to a unit called Leş Beloni in Homs. I
was subjected to the hardest torture in that unit. They forced us to listen to
the sounds of when one of our friends was raped. That friend was severely
beaten. I heard insults that I have never heard of and words I cannot even
imagine to be said, I suffered from sexual harassment and I was dishonored. It
was the first time in my life that I saw such violent human beings, if they
could be called humans, of course. They hung me on the ceiling; they put my
head and legs into a tire and started to beat me using a torturing tool called
Dulab. Neither men nor women were shown
mercy. Both men and women were subjected to similar treatment. We all suffered
from many things such as insults, violence, battery, swearing, torture,
racking, being forced to walk on pools of blood, being left in the cold, being
shocked with electricity.”
After being kept
there for 1 month, RH was sent to Military Intelligence Palestine Unit in
Damascus and interrogated again and forced to be naked. She stayed together
with 15 to 20 people in this 8 floor unit-according to her statement-and is
well known with its torturing. She also saw many children and women in this
place with 8 rooms in each floor. RH mentioned that she also saw orphan
children and that most of them were at the ages of 2 to 5. RH stayed there
together with many elder women suffering from diabetes and hypertension and she
was detained there unquestioned for 4 months. She was subjected to countless
crimes against humanity in this place where law does not apply in any manner.
RH burst into tears when mentioning those humiliating events she experienced as
she continued:
“… We heard so many screams of torture here as
well. We smelled the stink of dead bodies. Everyone already expected his or her
turn to be killed at any time. We all thought that we would die under torture
unbeknown. I even forgot what sleeping was like. We all lost sense of night and
day.”
After 1 month, RH
was taken to Kefer Suse district and kept there for 14 days. Then, she was
taken to a court trial for the first time. RH was sent to Adra Prison after
that and she finally succeeded her emancipation there thanks to an attorney
sent by her family and in return for a considerable amount of money paid.
2. Haya el-Rai
Haya el-Rai (HR)
is 32 years old woman from Hama, married and the mother of 4. Today, she barely
makes her living with donations in Reyhanlı. HR was imprisoned in September
2012 after informants led to her husband’s arrest during the times of war and
he indicated HR as a supporter of the opponents during the interrogation
although she had nothing to do with it. HR was hauled into an armored vehicle,
taken to the intelligence unit No. 4. Army; and she interrogated while completely
naked and her eyes tied. HR was tortured during the interrogation and she said
that the soldiers beat her with plastic pipes until she fainted when they could
not receive the answers they wanted. HR, after being released from the prison
where she was kept for 1 month, took refuge in Turkey with her children after
her husband left her. Following are her recollections:
“We were forced to walk over the blood
accumulated on the floor after torturing, I and many women like me and young
girls were raped again and again. No matter how hard we resisted and tried to
protect ourselves, they never stopped torturing, beating, insulting and, worst
of all, raping us. No one could hear our voice. We could not even sleep due to
screams of the tortured. Many of our friends got pregnant because of the rapes.
In fact, some of them gave birth to 2-3 children. Everything was so horrible
and inhuman. It is very hard for me even to remember those days. I attempted to
commit suicide 4 times after that day. I cannot be considered to have recovered
from all of what I experienced. I received psychological support but the fact
that I am breathing does not mean that I am alive. I feel like a dead body that
was dishonored and lost its soul.”
3. Ala el Suveydi
Ala el Suveydi
(AS) is 32 year-old woman from Aleppo, married and mother of 3 children. AS
lived a simple and normal life with her husband and children before the war.
She was detained by the intelligence in 2013 that raided her place in
Hamdaniye. She was imprisoned by the intelligence for almost 10 days and she
was released afterwards whereas her husband lost his life in prison as a result
of torture. 3 months later, AS was detained again and interrogated by the
intelligence unit in Damascus for 3 months and then she was transferred to Adra
Prison. She was taken to a court trial on the 17th day of her imprisonment
there and she stayed in the prison for approximately 1 year in consequence of
her conviction by the judge. Afterwards, the court decided her acquittal but
she was taken under interrogation again by another intelligence unit at the
very date she was supposed to be released and she was exposed again to several
tortures and inhuman treatment at Adra Prison. AS was exposed to questions
about her husband in particular and she described her experiences as follows:
“We, 32 women, stayed at a ward there. It was
not possible to turn from one side to another because there was no room to do
so. We were monitored 24/7 by surveillance cameras. We were forbidden to pray
and read the Quran. We prayed in an implied way. We were allowed to go to the
toilet only 3 times a day. There were old women at the age of 50 to 70 with
diabetes and renal failure at the place where we stayed. Apart from these,
dietary conditions were also really terrible. We found cut nails, bugs etc. in
the wheat pilaf they served. The prison was extremely dark and cold. On the
blankets they gave to us to get warm, there were bloods of people killed during
tortures or worms from the dead bodies since they were left unattended for a
long time. They took us to a torture room at certain hours and beat us with
cables and then gave us electric shocks. They tied our hands and hung us to the
ceiling by means of a rack so that we stood up with our feet a centimeter away
from the floor. Women witnessed torturing of men and heard their screams and
vice versa. Sometimes we were subjected to solitary confinement. The cell was
barely at the size of 1 square meter. It was too dark and there was a tap
dripping all the time in the cell. Nothing particular was necessary to put a
person in the cell. That worked also arbitrarily as usual. You could have been
tortured at 5 o’clock in the morning. There were no specific rules or
principles for anything… a lot of women and girls were raped there. For
instance, a female companion of mine got pregnant exactly 5 months after being
raped…too many child deliveries happened in Adra. Some women were also
imprisoned regardless of their pregnancy and they were obliged to deliver under
hard conditions. Sexual harassment, abuse and rape were conducted in a single
room. We were insulted and beaten all the time. Cholera disease was also very
common in the prison…”
AS was released in
2016 and she went first to Idlib and then to Turkey, taking her children who
were looked after by her mother in-law when she was in prison. She tries to
make her living there working with her eldest child and forget about what she
has been through.
4. Hilal el Dari
Hilal el Dari (HD)
is 34 years old from Damascus. She is a former teacher who is married and
mother of 2. In May 2014, she was arrested and sent to the basement of a
hospital that served as a prison on the grounds of attending anti regime
demonstrations despite the fact that she was not involved in anyway. HD stayed
there with her paralyzed mother and her sister under tough conditions for a
year. She stated that the reason for their detention is to make pressure on the
men in her family. HD mentioned that she could not even take a bath for 6
months during her imprisonment there and she could not also take care of her
old wheelchair-stricken mother sufficiently. The mother also struggled for her
life under difficult conditions, having pressure sores at one side of her body
due to being seated all the time.
At the end of
their stay there, HD was sent to Al Khatib branch and she spent another 8
months with her mother and sister there. She mentioned that there were 52 more
women there and she stayed at an underground ward together with 19 other women.
HD was not subjected to any sexual harassment or abuse but she was forced
during the interrogation to accept the crimes she did not commit and then she
was sent to Adra prison upon her resistance to this. HD was released on April
15, 2016 after being held in Adra prison for 5 months and she migrated to
Reyhanlı taking her children and mother with her.
5. Hiba Şami
Hiba Şami (HŞ) is 50
years old, married and mother of 3 from Aleppo. She was detained a few months
after the demonstrations started in 2011. She was interrogated in a naked state
at a prison in Aleppo for 10 days. HŞ was asked to provide information on her
activities and she had a heart attack at the 2nd day of her
detention in Aleppo. After her treatment, continuation of her detention was
decided and interrogation officers would punish her by beating her when her
replies to his questions were not satisfactory. HŞ was tortured at National
Security Unit in Aleppo and she was exposed to several tragic events such as
being violently beaten after being seated on a tire, being electroshocked,
being beaten by sticks, being humiliated and threatened etc. She also mentioned
that there were 14 year-old young girls there aside from adult women. The
torturing repeated every 15 minutes since she did not admit the unsubstantial
claims against her… She was taken to Kefer Suse in Damascus, after being held
in Aleppo for 10 days. During her detention in Damascus, the commanders told HŞ
that they could save her but they mockingly asked her to have sex with them in
return. Those soldiers staining the honor of women with such indecent proposals
also committed crimes against humanity such as tearing beards of male detainees
and torturing them in a complete naked state.
After staying at
this prison for 18 days, HŞ was transferred to Adra Prison. She stayed in Adra
for 2 days. When she was taken back to Aleppo, she was kept in a prison in Homs
for 1 week due to the conflicts between the opponents and the regime. She was convicted
at the court in Idlib. She was acquitted and released from the prison after
staying for 3 months there. She lost 18 kg during that period due to severe
conditions of the prison. She faced what many Syrian captive women experienced
and she was excluded from the society after she was released from the prison:
“Unfortunately, even if physical tortures ended
when I was released from the prison, social torture continues. Imprisoned
people are a source of disgrace in the eyes of the supporters of the regime and
they create the opinion of the society about them is that they were dishonored
due to the things they lived through in the prison. Therefore, an imprisoned
person, regardless of their innocence, is forced to migrate somewhere else
after being released from the prison since she is excluded and rejected by the
society, even by her family and husband and she could not hold on to life. The
fear of being arrested again is also another reason that forces people to immigration.
Those who could not migrate continue to live in Syria, provided that they
remain silent”.
6. Rena Verd
Rena Verd (RV), 38
years old and mother of 4 from Hama. She was detained at a checkpoint at the
entrance of Hama in 2014 with the allegations of being a member of Free Syrian
Army. Her husband was trapped and killed on his way from Idlib to a rural area
of Hama in 2012; she started to be interrogated at the military security unit
in Hama. She was interrogated from 6 o’clock in the evening until morning for 3
days. She was subjected to various insults, humiliations and violence during
the interrogation. She suffered from significant physical and psychological violence
following the questioning particularly about her husband. After the end of
interrogation, she was completely unclothed and taken to a cell and held there
naked. 8 days later, she was referred to homicide unit. She was interrogated
there as well. She was convicted to be an arms smuggler after this
interrogation. RV lost 17 kg during this period and she witnessed many
prisoners, among them 13 year-old imprisoned boys and captive girls older than
20 years, being tortured. RV was released after a month and took refuge in
Turkey in October 2015.
7. Hamide el Halebi
Hamide el Halebi
(HH) was detained in Homs and taken to prison with the allegations of terrorism
and she was detained there for 12 days. She passed 6 days of that period in a
small cell with rats and the remaining 6 days at the prison. She was subjected
to extreme physical violence during 12 days after her first detention. She
suffered from continuous humiliation and verbal violence at the cell. 12 days
may sound a short period of time but HH described the events she witnessed
during those days:
“Women were tortured incredibly. We witnessed
countless inhuman violence such as hanging of the hands to the ceiling as if
being hung on a rack; we also faced frequent raping, poking, and being forced
to walk on blood as a kind of psychological violence. There were young girls
and boys at the age of 14 to 15 under detention. We witnessed them being raped and I saw at
least two of them gave birth. It is really very hard to forget what happened.”
8. Meryem el Askeri
Meryem el Askeri
(MA) is 35 years old, a mother of 3 from Damascus. After a short while from the
beginning of the demonstrations, she was detained and sent to prison together
with her 14-month baby. She was imprisoned for 1,5 years in total and exposed
to both physical and sexual violence during her improsenment. She was raped
several times in front of her baby. MA lives in Reyhanlı now.
“…My baby could not bear the conditions of the
prison anymore and got seriously ill at the 10th month. The soldiers
got tired of crying spells of my baby and delivered it to its grandmother. Even
if I was happy that my child was released, the violence, starvation and rape
that I was exposed to became unbearable. I was released after 1,5 years when my
health worsened further. I was brought to Turkey right after my release due to
bleeding. I had 12 surgeries there because of my deteriorating health…”
9. Reyhan El Raşidi
Reyhan El Raşidi
(RR) is married, mother of 3 children, 28 year-old nurse. She was detained
since she treated injured people during the demonstrations in early 2011. With
allegations about her husband having participated in the demonstrations, both
husband and wife were sent to prison. She was under interrogation for more than
two weeks but her husband was detained longer. They somehow took refuge in
Turkey after both were released.
“…I was exposed to violence in the prison
based on the allegations that I helped the opponents. I sometimes fainted when
subjected to severe insults and humiliation. The interrogations were done once
every 2 days. We were raped first and
then beaten until we fainted almost at every interrogation. When I regained my
consciousness, I found myself naked on the floor with pain and scars of battery.
I was released after spending 17 days under those conditions… I was taken to
a hospital’s emergency unit with heavy bleeding right after my release and had
3 surgeries in total due to the infections I had…”
What Can Be Done for Captive Women?
a) In Terms of Law
The Syrian regime
should make a satisfactory statement about women and children in official and
unofficial prisons and inform their families about their statuses.
Women and children
who are still imprisoned and the number of whom is still not officially
disclosed should be released immediately.
Women and children
who are still on trial and accused of certain crimes should be allowed to use
their rights to an attorney and to see their families.
International
Criminal Court should judge people who are responsible for the violation of
rights during Syrian war.
b) In Terms of Psycho-social Support
Syrian captive women
should receive support to heal the psychological disorders and difficulties that
developed as a result of the trauma they experienced in order to sustain their
life.
It is important to
raise awareness to families and the society in general in terms of
psychological and social supports; also necessary precautions should be taken
to prevent captive women from being excluded following their release.
The required
channels of support should be established, especially for many women who could
not receive any social support due to physical violence and sexual assault they
were subjected to and quite the opposite, who informed what happened to them
and were excluded and isolated in Syrian community.
Therapy, treatment
and employment processes should be promoted within this period to ensure that
those individuals engage their minds with more positive interests and they
participate actively into life again by building new skills.
c) In Terms of Humanitarian Diplomacy
Humanitarian
diplomacy channels should be activated for the release of captive women. In
this respect, negotiations should be held with all relevant parties for their
release.
Even if the release
of captive women and children in the hands of the regime cannot be ensured for
now, at least the regime should be demanded to take steps for the improvement
of their conditions. For this purpose, international observers should be given
access to the places where they are detained.
Meetings should be
arranged with the countries where released women took refuge concerning the
protection of their rights and to follow-up of their rehabilitation.
Conclusion
Syria has been
going through an uncommon humanitarian crisis for the last eight years. During
this crisis, women and children are the ones who were affected most both
physically and psychologically. Women have increasingly become targeted by the
Syrian regime since the beginning of the war. Moreover, other conflicting
groups also committed substantial violations with respect to victimization of
women.
There are
thousands of women who were imprisoned used both as an instrument of
psychological stress against Syrian opponents and for bargaining chips. The Syrian regime detains most of these women
based on the allegations of being opponents without any concrete evidence in
this respect, tortures them and forces them unlawfully to testify against their
relatives. If those women do not provide such confessions, then they are
subjected to all sorts of torture and abuse in the places where they are
detained.
Syrian women are
deprived of not only their human rights but also sanitary and hygienic
conditions in those places where the right to life, being one of the most basic
rights, is directly threatened. Many women still suffer from serious health
problems due to the conditions they were exposed in the prisons.
Interrogated
captive women were threatened that they would be killed if they try to take
legal action for the physical and psychological scars they experienced during
their times in the prison.
An imprisoned
woman is excluded and simply left to her fate by everyone around her,
particularly by her husband and her family due to some social codes. Today,
most of those women are left alone with or separated from their children and
they struggle so hard to make their living and to survive.
Putting women in
captivity does not only cause social revenge to be intensified but also it
disrupts dynamics of the Syrian community. This remains a serious source of
trouble that can hinder the efforts for peace in the country.
It is sadly
observed that international community conducts very weak studies on this
situation when Syria goes through all these. When the Assad regime should be
forced to change such reckless and devilish conduct especially towards women,
the silence of global actors leads to victimization of more women each day. In
this sense, the international society including UN Security Council and ruling
elites should take more concrete steps for fighting against the violation of
women’s rights in Syria.
It is not just the
responsibility of families of captives and some legal experts to end the current
crimes against humanity and to free Syrian women; but the responsibility lies
on all global communities and administrators.
[7]Articles 4 and 19 of La Haye
Convention entitled as “convention about protection of cultural treasures in
case of an armed conflict” and dated May 14, 1954 incorporate provisions on
protection of cultural heritage during civil warfare.
[12]Article 18 : Each person has the
right to freedom of opinion, conscience and religion. This right includes
freedom of religion or revelation through public or private education,
practice, praying and religious rituals. Please refer to http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights.
Article 19 : Everyone has the right to freedom
of opinion and expression. This right necessitates freedom to hold opinions
without any interference, to search, acquire and disseminate information and
opinions through any media regardless of any frontiers.
[13]Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and personal
security.
[14]Article 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or
exile.
[15]Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment and punishment.
[37]In about 93 months… about 560 thousand were killed in Syria since the
day of claiming rights to the international human rights day”, SOHR,http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=108723
[45]“I lost my dignity: Sexual and gender-based violence in the Syrian Arab
Republic”, Human Rights Council,
Thirty-seventh session 26 February – 23 March 2018 Agenda item 4, ss.6-7.
[51]The names of above mentioned prisons
are based on the data received during the interviews with previously imprisoned
women between the dates 05.12.2017-12.12.2018. For another report about this
subject, please refer to: “Detention of Women in Syria: A weapon of war and
terror”, Euro-Meditarranean Human Rights
Network,2015, ss.32-44, https://euromedrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/EMHRN_Womenindetention_EN.pdf
[56]The names of the witnesses are
changed to ensure both their safety of life and also the safety of their
relatives still living in Syria. Their voices were also recorded by changing
the tone of voices during the interviews as well as their real names.