The pace of violence is escalating… after 4 decades on November 25

After Turkey and its mercenaries occupied Afrin Canton in March 18, 2018, and the regions of Sere kaniye and Gire Spi in October 2019, they turned these areas into secret prisons, and kept its people away from the prospects of peace.

Turkish occupation and its mercenary operations in Syria, were accompanied by violations of humanity, including killing and kidnapping of women under the pretext of dealing with the Autonomous Administration in Afrin, Sere kaniye and Gire Spi. Almost daily, survivors of the occupation's violations reveal shocking details of what it committed against the abducted women and blackmail their families to obtain a ransom.

Violence and assault are not new to Turkey, where killings of women have risen, in light of the ruling regime's negligence in deterring these crimes. Turkish "We will stop femicide" platform revealed, in its latest statistic last August, that 31 women were killed last August, in addition to 21 women whose deaths are under criminal suspicion.

The human rights report said that among the 31 women killed, 6 were killed by their husbands, 5 by their relatives, 4 by their ex-husbands, 4 by their fathers, 3 by their acquaintances, 3 by their male children, 1 was killed by a young man she refused to marry him, 1 was from a man she did not know, 1 from her friend, 1 from her brother, 1 who had nothing to do with the perpetrator, and the last 1 because she refused to talk to a young man who admired her.

The report added that 80% of the women who were killed last August were killed in their homes, noting that 20 women were killed last July, bringing the number of women killed to 201 this year after adding those who were killed in August, and 12 women there were criminal suspicion about their deaths.

While, last year, the number of women killed in similar crimes reached 300, in addition to 171 women there were criminal suspicion about their death.

What about the occupied regions?

Center for Human Rights Afrin - Syria revealed in the outcome of the violations committed against women in Afrin since the beginning of the Turkish occupation until now, kidnapping of more than 1,000 women, most of them minors, while the fate of more than (400) women is still unknown.

While more than (84) women were killed, including (6) suicides, (71) cases of harassment, and more than (216) women were injured in the occupied Canton of Afrin.

Center for Research and Protection of Women's Rights in Syria also recorded the outcome of violations in north and east Syria, where the total number 18 women were killed, 49 were kidnapped, and 23 were injured.

Nadia Suleiman (24 years), one of the female survivors from the prisons of the Turkish occupation in Afrin, experienced the most severe torment and lived horrific days.

Nadia, told our agency in an exclusive interview in March 2021, the bitterness of prison and the woes she had tasted at the hands of Turkish occupation. She said: "We could not refuse anything, they beat me with water cannons, and sharp-edged pieces of iron, and put lemon salt under the nails, they mocked us as captives, and they had the power to do whatever they wanted from us".

In another crime, last October, Turkish intelligence killed a citizen (Na'amat Sheikho, 32 years old), she was six months pregnant in occupied Afrin, because of her severe injuries after being tortured after she was kidnapped with her husband.

The documented crimes and violations against women show the inhuman, brutal and systematic violence against women, despite the agreement stipulated in Article (27) of the Fourth Geneva Convention to protect women in particular against any attack on them, especially against rape and coercion.

Sherin Joly, a member of Center for Research and Protection of Women's Rights in Syria, in this context, confirmed in an audio recording sent to our agency, that women in occupied areas are facing a tragic catastrophe, noting that women are the most main victims in the violations of the occupation, noting that it committed atrocities against women in those areas, and the crime rate is rising day after day without any accountability.

In parallel, Human Rights Organization documented the killing of 56 women at the hands of Turkish border guards on the Syrian-Turkish border, while trying to cross the border, in addition to the killing of 83 children under the age of 14, in recent years.

Honor excuses !!!!

Aida al-Hamoudi, a 16-year-old girl from al-Hasakah city, was killed on June 28 by those claiming to be her brothers and uncles in northern countryside of al-Hasaka, because what they claimed "honor and disgrace", after she refused to marry her cousin, claiming that she had tried Fleeing with a young man she loves, and despite the brutality of the moment, they did not forget to film the killing of Aida, as proof while her small body was crumbling in front of them.

The killings under the pretext of "honor" did not stop at Aida, it is continuing, that since the beginning of 2021, the number of cases of violence against women has increased, according to the cases documented by the Women's Coordination in AANES.

the statistic of cases of violence against women since the beginning of 2021 reached (666) cases.

Enslaved her again.

And last October, Turkish occupation mercenaries opened what is known as the "polygamy" office in occupied Azaz city, the association’s logo bore a symbol of a man and around him 4 women, in reference to man’s right to marry 4 women, to weaken women through these decisions and imposing slavery on them again, the opening of this office aroused widespread popular discontent, and was condemned by women’s institutions and organizations in NES in particular and Syria in general.

four decades of anti-violence and the violence continues

In 1981, activists in "Encuentro" women's organization in Latin America and the Caribbean set November 25 as the day to combat violence against women and raise awareness of it, and on December 17, 1999 the date became official by a United Nations decision, and with the passage of four Decades since his declaration of anti-violence, however, he pace of violence is escalating.

To this day, although many women's, human rights and humanitarian organizations in occupied Afrin and NES have submitted files documenting the crimes of Turkish occupation against women to international community, they are still in a state of complete silent.

Sh-S

ANHA