WUNRN
SYRIA - CONCERNS FOR REFUGEE WOMEN
& GIRLS - FORCED MARRIAGE, SEXUAL EXPLOITATION & ABUSE
Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) international solidarity network
is deeply concerned about the growing trend of Syrian refugee women being sold
into marriage as a ‘strategy’ of survival for desperate families; or as a way
of escaping the destitution of life in refugee camps. Forced marriage is a form
of sexual slavery which includes limitations to a woman’s
autonomy, freedom of movement and power to decide matters relating to her
sexual activity.
WLUML is aware there has been much information
surrounding the
Because of the stigma and social norms around the “dishonor” that rape or other forms of sexual violence brings to women and girls and their families, Syrian survivors rarely report rape. Survivors fear retribution by their assailants, or being killed by “shamed” family members or in the case of girls, being married off at an early age “to safeguard their honor.” For survivors who manage to flee, there is a shortage of medical and counseling services to help them recover in the communities where they have settled and even there, challenges continue. Many women and girls face unsafe conditions in refugee camps as well as elevated levels of domestic violence.
More than 2.5 million Syrians have become displaced, either internally
or externally, since the crisis began in 2011. The UNHCR estimates that 600,000
Syrians have sought refuge beyond
Under desperate circumstances, and with little hope of actual help from
an ‘international community’ seemingly set to argue amongst themselves over
whether or not to arm factions within this proxy war than to do anything about
the actual human crisis, Syrian refugees (the majority of whom are women and
children) are increasingly turning to what the UNHCR representative in Jordan
termed ‘survival sex’ – i.e. selling daughters into marriage.
Such marriages are reported to occur mostly between men from the Gulf
Arab countries, who will pay a sizeable fee for Syrian wives. Astonishingly,
such marriages are even being arranged by NGOs who purport to be working to aid
Syrian refugees. As one Syrian woman in
"When I went for help at the NGO they asked
to see my daughter. They said they would find a husband for her."
Aid agencies repeatedly stress that they do not have the resources to
account for all the Syrian refugees in need of help, so in lieu of anything
else women are paying the price. Having fled the destruction of their homeland
, they find that ‘surviving’ the war was not the end of their ordeal. Now they
face an unwanted, forced marriage in which they could also be subjected to
countless other forms of violence – because to survive there are few other
options.
WLUML calls on the international community particularly the United
Nations, the donor countries and the international humanitarian agencies to
take particular and urgent attention to addressing the growing gender-based
violence crisis in Syrian women are facing. We call for:
1. Emergency response funding
that will adequately address the sexual violence that accompanies the Syrian
humanitarian crisis.
2.
Establish adequate specialized medical care, emotional
support, safe spaces and safety, and prevention information for women and
girls.
3. Establish programs that will focus on reducing
risks and meeting minimum standards for preventing gender-based violence and
abuse. Shelter, water, sanitation and
other services must address the safety needs of vulnerable women and girls in
and outside refugee camps.
4. Establish programs that provide women and girls
with relevant and needed material goods and economic support to reduce
exploitative jobs including engaging in survival sex.
5. Donor countries to meet their obligations and to
increase the quality and quantity of services in accordance with their
commitments under the various UN Security Council Resolutions on women, peace
and security. [2][2]Their programs on
WLUML affirms that these women and girls are being
forced into marriage including enslavement, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual
slavery and sexual violence covered by the Rome Statute of 1998.[3][3]
Other
forms of sexual slavery can, for example, be practices such as the detention of
women in "rape camps" or "comfort stations", forced
temporary "marriages" to soldiers and other practices involving the
treatment of women as chattel, and as such, are violations of the peremptory
norm prohibiting slavery.[4][4]
[1][1]
[2][2] There are five (5) UN Security Council Resolutions to address concerns facing women , peace and security in conflict and post-conflict situations: These are: Resolution 1825 (2000) Resolution 1820 (2008), Resolution 1888 (2009), Resolution 1889 (2009), and Resolution 1960 (2010).
[4][4] ^