WUNRN
Direct Link to Full 28-Page 2013 IRC
Report:
SYRIA - A REGIONAL CRISIS - REFUGEES
SYRIA - WOMEN &
GIRLS SUFFER SEXUAL VIOLENCE, RAPE, TORTURE IN CIVIL WAR
Mark Tran- The Guardian -
14 January 2013
The International Rescue Committee has described reported
sexual violence against Syrian women and girls as horrific. Photograph:
Muhammed Muheisen/AP
Rape
is a "significant and disturbing" feature of the Syrian civil war,
with women and girls citing sexual violence as their main reason for fleeing
the country, according to a report published on Monday.
Women and girls told the
International Rescue Committee (IRC) of being attacked in public and in their
homes, primarily by armed men. The rapes, sometimes by several men, often
occurred in front of family members.
"The stories we've heard, talking to Syrian
women, are truly horrific," said Sanj Srikanthan, IRC-UK emergency field
director. "Many of these women have experienced rape and torture in Syria,
but as refugees
[they] can't find the support they need to heal their physical and emotional
scars – let alone provide food and shelter for their families."
During interviews with 240 Syrian
women and girls in Lebanon and Jordan, IRC learned of attacks involving kidnap,
rape, torture and murder, with Syria's many roadblocks a particular danger.
IRC said it was impossible to give figures, but
its report draws attention to the use of rape as a strategy in war. Sexual
violence occurs in every humanitarian crisis, notably during the Balkan wars
and in conflicts in parts of Africa, and Syria is no exception.
In a report in June, Human Rights Watch
said Syrian government forces have used sexual violence to torture men, women
and boys detained in the conflict.
Last year, British foreign secretary William Hague
launched the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative
to highlight these issues. The Foreign Office has assembled a team of 70
doctors, lawyers, forensic experts and psychologists who can be deployed to
conflict areas.
Hague told parliament last week that the
Members of the team will train
local health professionals to gather medical and forensic evidence and
documentation that can be used in prosecutions. Hague has said
The UN estimates the death toll during nearly two
years of civil war in
The UN World Food Programme has warned
that it was unable to deliver food to up to 1 million hungry and desperate
Syrians because of spiralling violence across the country and a lack of fuel.
The UN has appealed for $1.5bn (£9.3m) for the first six months of this year,
the largest short-term UN appeal, but it remains seriously underfunded.
IRC said aid
is drastically insufficient to meet existing needs, let alone the barest
requirements to respond to a lengthy humanitarian emergency and post-conflict
recovery.
Refugee camps have gained much
media attention, yet most Syrian refugees are in towns and cities in
"While some Syrians are
housed by host families in cramped quarters, most are renting small,
dilapidated unfurnished apartments that they increasingly cannot afford,"
said IRC. "Others find shelter in sheds, barns, basements and abandoned
buildings unfit for habitation. Some are offered shelter by local authorities
in unused public spaces."
Urban refugees are straining the
education, health and water facilities of host countries. Rents have gone up
for both refugees and locals, and tension is on the rise.
The IRC report also described the
deliberate targeting of medical and healthcare facilities by the Syrian
government. Doctors told the IRC of a systematic campaign to restrict access to
healthcare through strategic bombing, forcing the closure of hospitals.
IRC urged donors to significantly
increase bilateral aid to host countries to help offset the strain on their
infrastructure and ease tension. The