DAA advisor warns of rising threats to women’s rights in Syria

The advisor to the DAA in Jazira Canton, Jian Hassan, evaluated the general Syrian scene and the situation of women in particular. She explained at the beginning of her remarks that the hopes of Syrians—especially women—were high after the fall of the regime, but these hopes were met with clear disappointment.

In her assessment of the situation in Syria one year after the fall of the Baath regime, Jian Hassan shed light on the reality experienced by women under Baathist rule. She explained that the regime imposed one language, one identity, and one flag on all Syrians, leading to widespread destruction, of which women bore the greatest share. She added that Syrian women, particularly Kurdish women, were subjected over those decades to all types of exclusion and violations.

Hassan also addressed the suffering of the Kurdish people, describing the regime’s practices as still carved into collective memory—from the Amuda cinema fire and the fire at the central prison in Hasakah in 1993, to demographic-engineering policies, the seizure of Kurdish lands and their displacement, all the way to the events of March 12, in addition to their exclusion from rights in the Syrian constitution for decades. The Kurdish people, and Kurdish women in particular, paid the highest price for these policies.

She affirmed that the Kurds and Kurdish women did not surrender but resisted with great determination to change the regime. With its fall, hopes for establishing a new democratic order increased. She explained that the revolution aimed to change the prevailing mindset, and Syrians made great sacrifices toward that goal, influenced by the winds of the Arab Spring that swept the region.

Syrian women today stand at a crossroads

She noted that after the fall of the regime, Syrian women hoped to gain a significant place in the process of building a new Syria. She said: “Because the revolution was known as the women’s revolution, yet today they stand at a crossroads between what they have achieved over the past years and the challenges imposed by the transitional phase.”

She added: “Women played a pivotal role in confronting the war, in managing local communities, and in civil and political initiatives.” But she observed that this role is not reflected adequately within decision-making institutions, creating a gap that must be bridged quickly.

Jian Hassan continued: “Syrian women have a long history of resistance and struggle, and have contributed to connecting sects, communities, and religions.” She also highlighted the achievements of women in North and East Syria and the co-presidency system, which she described as a comprehensive model that could be applied across all of Syria.

On the other hand, Jian warned of worsening suffering for women in Syria, affirming that the Baath regime practiced oppression in hidden ways, while the transitional government today is practicing the same oppression openly and without any oversight or accountability.

 She stated that what the people and Syrian women were expecting is far from what is being realized on the ground, pointing to the removal by the transitional government of names of resisting women from history books and school curricula, such as Queen Zenobia and Khawla bint al-Azwar.

She continued: “In the mindset of this authority, the woman does not exist. They see her as merely a servant for labor, childbirth, and the home—covered in a black garment and confined within four walls. Even places of worship specific to women, such as the statue of the Virgin Mary and the shrine of Lady Zainab, have not been respected, and women were attacked in the revolution and in religion with full force and oppression.”

She explained that women in Syria—teachers, doctors, social scientists, lawyers, and judges—were subjected to oppression, violence, and exclusion from decision-making positions. Some of them were killed or exiled. She warned that what is taking place is “a deliberate massacre,” reflecting a mentality that is 5,000 years old.

Hassan also discussed the bloody events in the coast and in Sweida, describing them as “immoral and inhumane events,” stressing the need to hold everyone involved accountable.

She affirmed that the mentality that killed women in Rojava, Shingal, Afrin, the coast, and Sweida is the same mentality that fears strong, knowledgeable women who are aware of their rights.

She added: “The Syrian woman, especially the Kurdish woman, was at the forefront of the forces that demanded change, yet her presence in the institutions of the transitional phase remains less than the scale of her sacrifices and her true role.” She emphasized that the challenges are not only political but also social, as an entire social structure attempts to restrict women’s roles under various pretexts.

She stressed that excluding women from decision-making centers is not merely a matter of representation but a matter of the future.

She said that the absence of women’s voices in drafting constitutions and public policies necessarily means producing a system that does not reflect the needs of half of society.

The advisor to the DAA Jian Hassan, concluded her remarks by saying: “The coming stage requires a clear political will and women’s and societal solidarity to ensure the building of a democratic and just Syria, in which women are one of its essential pillars.”

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ANHA