Statement of the Syrian Women's Network (Shams) on the 16 days campaign to combat violence against women
On the 31st anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
This year’s 16 Days Against Gender-Based Violence activities focus on digital violence, which violates women’s privacy, dignity, physical independence, and rights, emphasizing that the consequences of this violence are real and do not disappear with disconnection from the internet and that logging out of the virtual world does not end feelings of terror, fear and panic and anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and post-traumatic stress disorder in women.
“Women and girls have the right to feel safe in all places, including cyberspace.”
Over the next sixteen days, the Syrian Women's Network - Shams joins the efforts of feminist organizations and feminist activists around the world to stop violence against women and girls in all its forms, and demands:
- The release of all female and male detainees, and the immediate disclosure of the fate of the missing persons.
- Considering sexual violence perpetrated by parties to the conflict a crime against humanity.
- Adopt a national plan to assess and address the negative impact of conflict on the lives of women and girls, following resolution 1325 (2000).
- Implementation of gender equality in the constitution and laws.
- Withdrawal of reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
- Issuing a law criminalizing digital violence: gender-based
- Issuing a law criminalizing domestic violence
- Repeal Articles 192, 242, and 508 of the Syrian Penal Code that grant mitigating excuses to perpetrators of rape and sexual crimes and allow defacto killing of women (on the pretext of honorable motive, outrage, and the marriage of the rapist to the victim)
- Repeal Article No. 18 of the Personal Status Law to eliminate all forms of child marriage.
- Amend the Nationality Law (Republic Decree No. 276/1969) to ensure that women and men have the same rights to acquire, transmit, retain and change nationality.
- Elimination of discrimination against women in the Penal Code.
- Providing safe shelters for survivors of violence, and supporting women’s organizations that provide shelters for women.
- Providing legal, social, and psychological services for battered women.
- Establishment of homes for incubators supervised by the state, and the rent paid by the husband
- Establishing a fund for alimony for women and their children
On this occasion, the Syrian Women’s Network calls feminist activists to work to abolish digital and gender-based violence and achieve Syrian women’s demands for justice, freedom, and dignity, and their activity is not limited to the 16 days, but rather work on that throughout the year.
November 26, 2021
