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 Cited
HRW. Syria: Extremists Restricting Womens Rights. 1 13 2014.
<http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/01/13/syria-extremists-restricting-women-s-rights>.
Lucy Rodgers, David Gritten, James Offer and Patrick Asare. Syria: The story of the conflict. 12 3 2015.
<http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868>.
Miles, Tom. U.N. aided 38,000 victims of Syrian gender-based violence in 2013. 8 1 2014.
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/08/us-syria-crisis-rape-idUSBREA0711R20140108>.
OECD Development Center. "Syrian Arab Republic." 2014. Gender
Index.<http://genderindex.org/sites/default/files/datasheets/SY.pdf>.
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.
<http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/11/09/Self-ruling-region-in-Syriaissues-women-s-rights-decree-.html>.
The Guardian. "Syria offers to help fight Isis but warns against unilateral air strikes." The Guardian 26 8
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Rienner, 1998.
UNHCR. "Woman Alone: The Fight For Survival By Syria's Refugee Women." 2014.
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<http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs239/en/>.