Sara Org. is an organization that provides social, legal assistance to women

To eliminate violence against women socially and legally, Sara Organization for Combating Violence against Women was established in July 2013.

Sara Organization seeks to raise awareness among women about their rights and duties, and how to achieve their freedom and build a democratic family. It also aims to open horizons for change in women's reality and support them in various areas of life, through the activities it organizes within the campaign program it launches, coinciding with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25) and International Women's Day (March 8) of each year.

However, many women who are subjected to violence in its various forms are unaware of the existence of institutions and organizations that can provide them with the necessary legal and social protection and assistance. They also lack knowledge about how to access them or how these centers operate to preserve their rights and protect them from violence.

Sara Organization for Combating Violence against Women is the social and legal destination for women to reclaim their rights.

Sara Committees and Centers

The work of Sara Organization is divided into 5 committees: The Legal Committee, which solves women's problems, the Relations Committee: Coordinating relations with all bodies and organizations related to women inside and outside North and East Syria, the Media and Archives Committee: Supervising the documentation and dissemination of the work carried out by the organization, highlighting its work, and preparing realistic studies based on the statistics and numbers it has documented, and the Financial Committee: Working to activate projects to combat unemployment, develop personal skills, and raise the financial level of women, in addition to the Committee for Monitoring the Affairs of Abused Women: It examines the case from a social perspective and provides psychological support to them.

The Sara Organization has 6 centers in each of the Afrin and al-Shahba cantons, Sarrin, Kobani in the Euphrates canton, and the cities of Qamishlo and Hasakah in the al-Jazira Canton in the North and East Syria region and Aleppo. The Qamishlo office is the main office of the organization, and 4 women work in each office, in addition to the presence of two members of the organization in the camps (Washokani, Roj, Serekaniye).

The organization aspires to open other offices, as it looks forward to opening an office in Raqqa province early next year (2025), and Tabqa, Manbij and Deir-ez=Zor cantons are affiliated with it.

About 29 members work in it, in addition to 89 other women who work as volunteers within the organization in various cities in North and East Syria, and they are women who have been subjected to violence.

Documentation

In statistics obtained by ANHA's agency from the Sara Organization for Combating Violence against Women, the organization has documented since the beginning of this year until now, in the North and East of Syria, the following: "90 cases of beating and harm, 1 marital infidelity, 2 death threats, 43 suicide attempts, 12 suicide cases, 2 rapes, 4 burnings, 4 electronic blackmail, 52 polygamy, 37 underage marriages, 50 escapes, 3 white slavery (prostitution), 6 harassment, 72 psychological cases, 10 murders, 6 of which are under investigation."

The Sara Organization monitors and documents cases of violence and violations that women are exposed to through virtual communication and attracting public opinion, in addition to providing legal consultations to educate women about their rights, taking treaties, charters, family law, and the Universal Declaration against Violence against Women as a reference.

Sara Organization and other women's organizations have the right to defend and represent before the courts and relevant authorities as an original party in all crimes committed against women, based on the provisions of the social contract and the approval of the Legislative Council in its session No. 11, which was issued on November 10, 2022, the Family Law in the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, according to what the administrator in Sara Organization, Arzo Tammo, confirmed.

According to the internal regulations of the Sara Organization, it has the right to be a party to lawsuits of violence against women legally, whether through the court or through the organization.

Legislative Decree No. 22, entitled “Basic Principles and General Provisions for Women,” stipulates in its seventeenth clause that honor killing is criminalized, and is considered a crime with all material and legal elements, and its perpetrator is punished with the penalties stipulated in the Penal Code as a crime of intentional or premeditated murder, whereby the murderer receives his full and deserved punishment.

Two main points

The Sara Organization for Combating Violence Against Women focuses in its work on two points, which are the war and its impact on women and the psychological violations against women from a physical perspective, and the intellectual, cultural, physical and psychological distortions it has produced for women. The second point is based on developing women's free will and finding appropriate solutions to all their problems.

Administrator Arzo Tammo says that the organization seeks to reach all women within society, and stressed, "We are Syrian women who deserve to have organizations that protect women and defend their rights, and speak in their language, voice and pen."

T/ Satt.

ANHA