WUNRN
Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/01/13/syria-extremists-restricting-women-s-rights
Syria – Islamic State &
Extremist Groups Restrict Rights of Women & Girls - Imposed Rules on Dress,
School, Work, Freedoms
·
(New York) – 13 January 2014 - Certain
extremist armed opposition groups are imposing strict and discriminatory rules
on women and girls that have no basis in Syrian law, Human Rights Watch said
today. The harsh rules that some groups are administering in areas under their
control in northern and northeastern Syria
violate women’s and girls’ human rights and limit their ability to carry out
essential daily activities.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 43 refugees from Syria in Iraqi Kurdistan and
conducted telephone interviews with two refugees from Syria in Turkey in
November and December 2013. The refugees interviewed said that the extremist
armed groups Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) have
enforced their interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, by requiring women and
girls to wear headscarves (hijabs) and full-length robes (abayas),
and threatening to punish those who do not comply. In some areas, the groups
are imposing discriminatory measures prohibiting women and girls, particularly
those who do not abide by the dress code, from moving freely in public,
working, and attending school.
“Extremist groups like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra are undermining the freedoms
that Syria’s women and girls enjoyed, which were a longtime strength of Syrian
society,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, women’s rights director at
Human Rights Watch. “What kind of victory do these groups promise for women and
girls who are watching their rights slip away.”
The regulations imposed on women by Jabhat
al-Nusra and ISIS have a far-reaching impact on women’s and girls’ daily lives,
affecting their ability to obtain education, provide for their families and
even procure basic necessities crucial to survival. Some refugees reported
abductions of women by these groups, and one refugee said that a widowed
neighbor and her three young children died during fighting because a
prohibition on leaving her home without a male guardian left her afraid to flee
the area.
The refugees from Syria in Iraqi Kurdistan
and Turkey told Human Rights Watch that, between September 2012 and November
2013, Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS imposed restrictions on women’s and girls’ dress
and movement in the Sheikh Maksoud neighborhood in the city of Aleppo, the
towns of Afrin and Tel Aran in Aleppo governorate, the city of Hassakeh, the
town of Ras al-Ayn in Hassakeh governorate, the city of Idlib, and the town of
Tel Abyad in Raqqa governorate. These areas include religiously diverse communities
of Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Alawites, Syriac Christians, and Armenian
Christians.
Interviewees said that members of Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS insisted that women
follow a strict dress code that mandated the abaya and hijab and
prohibited jeans, close-fitting clothing, and make-up. According to
interviewees, members of these groups forbade women from being in public
without a male family member in Idlib city, Ras al-Ayn, Tel Abyad, and Tel
Aran. Women and girls who did not abide by the restrictions were threatened
with punishment and, in some cases, blocked from using public transportation,
accessing education, and buying bread.
Interviewees from Idlib city, Tel Abyad, and Tel Aran also said that Jabhat
al-Nusra and ISIS banned women from working outside the home in these areas.
While interviewees were not always able to distinguish among members of various
extremist armed groups with absolute certainty, reports from media sources and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights support
the refugees' contentions that Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS have imposed these
restrictions. Human Rights Watch cannot confirm whether other extremist armed
groups present in the areas mentioned were involved in imposing restrictions.
Syria does not have a state-mandated religion and its constitution protects
freedom of religion. While the Syrian penal code and personal status laws,
which govern matters such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance, contain
provisions that are discriminatory to women and girls, the Syrian constitution
guarantees gender equality. Public protests in June 2009 led
the government to abandon an effort to introduce more regressive personal
status laws. Interviewees told Human Rights Watch that, in the past,
women and girls were largely able to participate in public life, including work
and school, and exercise freedom of movement, religion, and conscience.
Refugees said that Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS also imposed limitations on male
dress and movement in the village of Jindires in Afrin and in Ras al Ayn, Tel
Abyad, and Tel Aran, but all said that greater restrictions were placed on
women and girls. Former residents of Tel Abyad and Tel Aran said that the armed
groups did not permit males to wear jeans or fitted pants, but that the groups
imposed a less specific dress code on males than on females.
Interviewees said that restrictions on movement for men and boys in the village
of Jindires in Afrin and in Ras al Ayn, Tel Abyad, and Tel Aran were part of
universal restrictions on movement, such as evening curfews; they said that, in
October 2012 in Ras al Ayn and July and August 2013 in Tel Aran, armed
extremist groups including Jabhat al-Nusra exerted control by announcing that
no one could go out in public after 5 p.m. In no cases were limitations on
dress or freedom of movement applied solely to men and boys.
While unjustified restrictions on dress and freedom of movement for anyone
violate their rights and should be rescinded, restrictions that apply to and
affect women and girls disproportionately are discriminatory.
Commanders of Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS should immediately and publicly rescind
all policies that violate women’s rights, including mandatory dress codes and
limitations on freedom of movement. The groups should cease punishing and
threatening women and girls whose dress or behavior does not conform to the
strict rules imposed by these groups. They should also halt unlawful
interference in women’s and girls’ rights to privacy, autonomy, and freedom of
expression, religion, thought and conscience, enforce adherence to
international human rights law, and punish those under their command who
restrict women’s dress and access to work, education, or public space. Any
concerned governments with influence over these groups should also press them
to put an end to these discriminatory restrictions on women, Human Rights Watch
said.
“Groups like ISIS and al-Nusra claim to be part of a social movement, yet they
seem more focused on diminishing freedom for women and girls than providing any
social benefit,” Gerntholtz said. “As we have seen in situations in Somalia,
Mali, and elsewhere, these kinds of restrictions often mark the beginning of a
complete breakdown of women’s and girls’ rights.”
Clothing Restrictions
Eleven interviewees told Human Rights Watch
that, between September 2012 and October 2013, they saw or heard announcements
by Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS at mosques, on pamphlets or posters, or to
individuals in Aleppo’s Sheikh Maksoud neighborhood, Ras Al Ayn, Tel Abyad and
Tel Aran, stating that women must cover themselves from head to foot by wearing
the abaya and hijab. In some cases the groups demanded that women
wear the niqab, a veil covering all of the face apart from the eyes. The
restrictions also forbade women wearing jeans, tight-fitting clothing, skirts
or dresses above the ankle and make-up. In some areas, the groups ordered women
not to style their hair or visit hair salons.
Basmah (all names have been changed at the request of interviewees), who had
been studying at a university in Syria, said that after extremist armed groups
gained control of Ras al-Ayn in the fall of 2012, they insisted that women wear
the abaya and hijab in public and could not wear jeans or makeup.
“We were very afraid,” Basmah said. She used the term “ISIS” to refer to all
members of armed extremist groups in the area. “If I went anywhere ISIS were
and I didn’t wear the long dress that they said I should wear, then they would
say, ‘You should never be here in this dress; you should wear what we want.’”
According to media reports, Jabhat al-Nusra and Ghurabah
al-Sham took control of Ras al-Ayn from the Syrian government in battles in
November 2012. Since January 2013, media and independent
monitoring groups have reported ongoing clashes between the armed
wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and extremist armed opposition
groups, including Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS, which are fighting for control of
the area.
A woman from Tel Abyad and a man from Tel Aran said that in July and August
2013 they saw members of Jabhat al-Nusra compel civilian men to rebuke women
who did not comply with the dress code. Media reports indicate that fighters from
Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS were in the towns at this time. Rashid, 27, from Tel
Abyad, said that if women did not abide by the restrictions, fighters whom he
and his wife both identified as members of Jabhat al-Nusra would visit the
women’s homes and threaten their male relatives to make them enforce the rules.
“They would say, ‘This time we are saying this to you; next time we will take
action,’” Rashid said.
Refugees from the Sheikh Maksoud neighborhood of Aleppo city and Ras al-Ayn,
Tel Abyad, and Tel Aran told Human Rights Watch that Jabhat al-Nusra fighters
threatened women with punishment if they did not comply with clothing
restrictions. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Jabhat
al-Nusra took control of Tel Aran in late July and continues to control the
town. According to reports from media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in late
November and December, ISIS controlled areas of Tel Abyad, even forcing
evictions of Kurdish families, and continued to fight Kurdish armed groups for
complete control of the region. As of January 6, however, media reported that attacks on ISIS by other
armed opposition groups threatened their position of power in Tel Abyad.
Restrictions on Movement
A total of 14 men and women told Human
Rights Watch that Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS imposed restrictions on women’s
movement in Jindires village in Afrin, Sheikh Maksoud in Aleppo, Idlib city,
Ras al Ayn, Tel Abyad, and Tel Aran. Rihab, 39, from Tel Aran, said women’s
lives changed dramatically in July 2013 after fighters whom she identified as
members of Jabhat al-Nusra announced restrictions on women’s movement. The
group no longer allowed women to appear in public alone and required a male
relative to accompany them.
“We could not go visit our friends,” she said. “We could not go to the market.
Freedom was gone for us [women]. It was like we were in jail. We couldn’t even
go outside near our house. If we went outside, Jabhat al-Nusra would tell us to
go back in our houses.” Rihab said that when fighters in her neighborhood would
not permit her to leave her house to visit her family in a different village,
she obeyed. “I was too afraid,” she said.
Refugees from Idlib city, Tel Abyad, and Ras al-Ayn, said that armed groups
prohibited women from appearing in public unaccompanied by a male relative.
They also said that Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS banned women from driving in Tel
Abyad and Idlib city. Mohammed, 57, said that fighters whom he identified as
members of Jabhat al-Nusra forbade bus drivers in the Sheikh Maksoud area of
Aleppo from accepting female passengers who were not wearing the hijab.
Faiza, 24, and Rihab, 39, both from Tel Aran, said that in July and early
August Jabhat al-Nusra fighters took up a position in the bakery and barred
them from purchasing bread for their families during Ramadan. “If any woman
went in, they would tell us, ‘Go back,’ and, ‘You should not bring bread; you
are a woman,’” Faiza said.
Refugees from Tel Abyad and Tel Aran said that, between September 2012 and July
2013, female-headed households in these towns were trapped without access to
work or supplies or had to take extreme measures to support themselves, such as
traveling to far-away villages where extremist armed groups were not present to
shop for food and necessities, despite ongoing clashes in the area. Hana, 19,
from Tel Abyad, said that Jabhat al-Nusra threatened her female neighbors if
they violated the dress code when going out to get supplies while their
husbands or male family members were away working.
Faiza said that her widowed neighbor became stranded with her children, ages 3,
4, and 6, when Jabhat al-Nusra fighters in Tel Aran prohibited women from
leaving their homes without a male guardian. As clashes intensified in July
2013, many townspeople retreated to a large open space away from the town
center. “We asked her, ‘Why don’t you leave with us?’” Faiza said. “And she
replied, ‘I don’t have any relatives or support. I will stay in my house with
my children. I can’t go with you.’” The widow and her children died when a
shell hit their home. “All of our houses were destroyed,” Faiza said. “Their
bodies were trapped under the rubble for four days before anyone could take
them out.”
Refugees from Sheikh Maksoud in Aleppo, Ras al Ayn, Tel Abyad, and Tel Aran
told Human Rights Watch that most women comply with the restrictions due to
fear of punishment or repercussions for themselves or family members.
Inhibiting rules and the resulting climate of fear has contributed to families’
decisions to flee Syria for neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan, they said. Members of
six families told Human Rights Watch that they decided to leave specifically
due to the presence of Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS, fearing the consequences of
defying restrictions and the establishment of an even more severely restricted
environment.
Restrictions on Employment and Access to Necessities
Refugees from Idlib city, Tel Abyad, and
Tel Aran said that Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS banned women from working outside
the home. Isma, 25, a former hairdresser in Ras al-Ayn, told Human Rights Watch
that in July and August 2013 all of the hair salons, which had mainly employed
women, were closed in the neighborhoods controlled by extremist fighters, whom
she identified as Jabhat al-Nusra. Media and the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights reported that Jabhat al Nusra was
fighting for control of Ras al Ayn in July alongside at least six extremist
armed splinter groups.
Abda, 20, and her father, Ahmed, said that fighters at checkpoints identified
themselves as Jabhat al-Nusra and that the same group announced restrictions on
women’s employment in Tel Abyad in 2013. “Women could only do work in the home,
such as knitting and tailoring,” Abda said. “Before, it was normal for women to
work outside the home, like as engineers.”
Due to limitations on freedom of movement and their ability to work, a woman
from Tel Abyad and another from Tel Aran told Human Rights Watch that they
became wholly dependent on male family members.
Restrictions on Access to Education
Women and girls also face increasing
obstacles to accessing education in areas where Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS are
present. Yasmina, 20, from the village of Yabseh near Tel Abyad, said that men
she identified as members of Jabhat al-Nusra prevented her and other female
students from registering for national university exams. “We saw that Nusra was
running the [registration] office,” she said. “They refused to talk to me, even
though I was wearing a headscarf. I was wearing Western clothes and they said
this was not acceptable.”
People interviewed said that school attendance by both males and females
declined with the increased presence of Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS due to fear of
armed clashes, but the impact on female students was compounded by the imposed
restrictions and a perceived heightened risk to women’s and girls’ personal
safety. Zahra, 20, who was a student in the city of Hassakeh, said that 10 of
the 30 female students in her class at the Secondary School of Business stopped
attending after Jabhat al-Nusra established a presence in the city in July and
August 2013. Hana, the 19-year-old from Tel Abyad, also said that she and her
female friends no longer attended class because they were afraid of Jabhat
al-Nusra fighters in the area. Reports from media and the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights indicate that, in schools in Tweihineh,
Saraqeb, and Tariq al-Bab in Idlib governorate, ISIS is requiring girls to abide by strict Islamic dress
codes, distributing leaflets promoting Islamic religious classes,
and pressuring school authorities to separate the sexes, including prohibiting
male teachers from instructing girls.
Abductions and a Climate of Fear for Women and Girls
Women told Human Rights Watch they felt unsafe
due to threats of punishment and reports of abductions of women by Jabhat
al-Nusra and ISIS, which created a climate of fear in their communities. Two
women told Human Rights Watch that they had been abducted by fighters they
believed belonged to Jabhat al-Nusra. Arwa, 22, said that as she was leaving
Firat University in Hassakeh by taxi in August 2013, Jabhat al-Nusra fighters
abducted her from a checkpoint and held her for several hours. Ghadah, 44, said
that an Islamist armed group in Tel Hassel abducted her during a raid on her
home in which they killed her husband and nephew. They held her for two days
with 10 of her and her relatives’ children. The group released her husband’s
second wife after 16 days. Eight other interviewees told Human Rights Watch
that Islamist groups had kidnapped or detained women on the road from Aleppo to
Afrin and in Afrin, Aleppo, Ras al Ayn, and Tel Aran.
Six men and women also told Human Rights Watch that Jabhat al Nusra and ISIS
made public announcements in Ras al Ayn, Tel Abyad, and Azaz declaring Kurdish
women and property “halal” for their fighters. The interviewees universally
interpreted this to mean that leaders of these groups were giving their
fighters freedom to abduct local women without consequence.
International Standards
Human rights law guarantees the right to
freedom of religion, including the right to manifest one's religious beliefs
through dress, worship, observance, practice, and teaching in private and in
public.Human Rights Watch takes no position on Sharia-inspired norms or
cultural dress practices per se, but opposes all laws or policies that impinge
on basic rights, including public dress codes mandated by governments or other
groups.
The enforcement of a compulsory and restrictive dress code on women and girls
in Syria violates their rights to private life, personal autonomy, freedom of
expression, and freedom of religion, thought, and conscience. These and
restrictions on women’s and girls’ freedom of movement also constitute a form
of gender-based discrimination prohibited under international treaties to which
Syria is a party, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women.
De facto authorities are responsible for respecting fundamental human rights in
areas under their control and holding those who abuse them to account. Human
Rights Watch has previously criticized governments and armed groups in Chechnya, Indonesia, Somalia, Mali, and Afghanistan for imposing regulations including
mandatory Islamic dress codes and restrictions on women’s liberties. Human
Rights Watch has also criticized the governments of Germany, France, and Turkeyfor violating religious freedoms by
banning religious symbols in schools and denying Muslim women the right to
choose to wear headscarves in schools and universities. Women and girls should
be free to decide whether or not to wear religious or traditional dress.