Rights Activist warns: Syrian women's future at risk

Bashira Jamal Al-Din, the member of the Women’s Protection Research Center and Co-Chair of the Lawyers’ Union in North and East Syria, said that Syrian women’s situation under the transitional government is dangerous, due to their exclusion from the political process in Syria.

She added that the exclusion did not only affect women, but all original communities in Syria, including Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, highlighting the example of the Democratic Autonomous Administration, which embraces all these communities and actively involves them in managing their regions and cultural and religious life.

She praised the Autonomous Administration’s experience, in which women play a central and essential role in civil and military institutions and decision-making centers, calling it a living example of women’s ability to manage state affairs through a co-chair system, in contrast to the transitional government, which deliberately excludes women from all fields.

Jamal Al-Din pointed out how Ahmad Al-Sharaa assumed power by appointing himself president without fair elections reflecting the will of Syrians, expressing her strong rejection of the so-called constitutional declaration issued by this government.

She explained that marginalizing women and attempting to exclude them from all areas of life essentially means excluding Syrian society as a whole, especially after many years of suffering, loss, and displacement. She noted that the number of displaced and refugee Syrian women and children since the beginning of the crisis has reached about 4 million, according to UNHCR statistics.

Jamal Al-Din warned of a threat to the future of Syrian women, particularly in the coast, Sweida, Damascus, and Idlib, stressing the need for women in these areas to organize and unite their efforts to ensure their rights in Syria’s future.

She also emphasized that any political process in Syria must involve women centrally, and excluding them would deepen the crisis and prevent a genuine solution, prolonging Syrians’ suffering.

She criticized the transitional government’s patriarchal, authoritarian, and religious mindset, noting that it aims to limit women’s role and exclude them from decision-making, blocking their active participation in rebuilding Syria.

She reiterated the Autonomous Administration’s experience, showing the essential role women play in managing the region and building society.

On women’s representation in the new Syria, Bashira Jamal Al-Din stated that the desired system should be democratic, civil, secular, and non-centralized, ensuring women’s full rights. She emphasized that women must be fundamental members in all state institutions, ministries, and decision-making centers, participating in government, drafting the constitution, and managing the country.

In conclusion, Bashira Jamal Al-Din stressed the need to reconsider policies toward women, asserting that a true society cannot be built without the active participation of women.

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ANHA