‘If Syrian women don’t stand up for their rights now, they will lose them!’
🔴”If Syrian women don’t stand up for their rights now, they will lose them!” says Gulnaz Osman from the Women’s Council of the Democratic Islamic Congress.#SaveRojava | #Kurdistan | #Syria |… pic.twitter.com/jEgPxaKUVW
— MedyaNews (@1MedyaNews) December 29, 2024
With the fall of the Assad regime and the rise to power of the jihadist organisation Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) in Syria, women fear increased violence against them and a loss of their rights. Gulnaz Osman from the Women’s Council of the Democratic Islamic Congress in North and East Syria has spoken about the dangers of an increase of violence against women under a regime led by HTS and advocated for a democratic understanding of Islam. She also called on Syrian women to speak up for their rights, mentioning that they are at risk of losing many rights under a HTS government.
Explaining the history of HTS, Osman explained that they are a “continuation of the Al-Nusra-Front” and that “their history is full of murder as well as rights violations against women.” She says that HTS have “changed their coat now but still follow the same ideology”, underlying her statement by saying that “women have no place in the new laws presented by HTS” and that HTS has started “forcing the hijab on women”.
“Syrian women are the ones that are the most affected by the ongoing wars but despite everything they keep on resisting”, she stated, calling on all Syrian women to “demand their rights now, because tomorrow may already be too late”.
She also clarified her understanding of a “democratic Islam”, saying that it shouldn’t be understood in a way where “whatever is written in the Koran, I will use it according to my own understanding”, but that everyone should see themselves as part of all people living on Earth and should not “undermine the rights of another faith”.
“Democratic Islam means bringing Islam back to its roots”, Osman highlighted, and explained that at the beginning of Islam women “played an active role in all facets of life, including war, trade, agriculture and medicine”. However, she added, “the patriarchal mindset deprives women from their history and from knowing herself in the name of Islam”. Giving the examples of HTS, the Muslim Brotherhood, Turkish President Erdoğan and Iran, she stated that these are “based on political Islam, where everything takes place under force and there are a lot of executions”.
Kongra Star Women’s Movement, which is the umbrella organisation of women’s organisations in Syria, with offices also in Lebanon, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and Europe, also shared a report on the threats of a HTS regime for women in Syria, sharing experiences of women from the Idlib region in northwestern Syria, which has been under the control of HTS since 2017.
Under the HTS regime, “women’s social and religious freedom was limited, with far-reaching consequences in areas such as education, employment opportunities and social relations”, Kongra Star stated, saying that women have become “more vulnerable to violence and suffering hardship”.
In the report, Kongra Star points out how HTS used more violent measures to establish their Islamist rule with their gain of power and control in Idlib, saying that at first they were just giving out advice to women who “wore make-up, short jackets or bright colours”, but as their power grew “they began to harass women”.
