EBÎR MUHEMED

Qamishlo – While gender injustice tends to increase, the victims of this are again women. However, after the Revolution in Rojava, women living in NE Syria have proved their power once again by organizing themselves in every part of life. They founded the Women's Council for Social Justice to solve problems faced by women. Newroz Esed, a member of the council, spoke to our news agency about their work.

Noting that the council was founded in 2015, Newroz Esed stated that they have carried out works to solve the problems faced by women. “We work coordinately with Women’s Houses (Shelters), Conciliation Committee, and Court of Justice. At the first conference of the council, women decided to found a Women's Council for Social Justice across NE Syria. We held our third conference a little late due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But we didn’t stop working and held our third conference in 2021. We can say that our third conference was a positive conference and we made a 2022 plan by sharing our ideas,” she told us.

They become a role model for European countries

Newroz Esed gives us information about their works in 2021. “In 2021, we focused on autonomous academic training to empower members working on justice. Some of our members worked with the members of Women’s Houses, the Conciliation Committee, and the Court of Justice to learn from their experiences. Together with Kongra Star, we demanded training about the autonomous system be held. We held seminars to introduce our council and system. Many delegations from the European countries visited us to know more about our council and use our system in their countries.”

106 women’s lives were saved

Emphasizing that they, as the council, saved 10 women’s lives in 2021, Newroz Esed said, “We can say that the council received fewer complaints compared to previous years. But the number of killed women increased compared to the previous year. Many women were killed in the name of family “honor”. Suicide cases were higher in 2021 than in previous years. The number of plural marriages decreased thanks to awareness-raising programs. We should focus on training to raise awareness of society. We saved about 106 women’s lives. If we stop struggling, femicide may increase.”

Council’s plans for 2022

Newroz Esed told us their plans for 2022. “We will carry out work on the organization of the commune so that information can be reached faster and problems will be resolved before something bad occurs. We will launch awareness-raising campaigns in refugee camps on polygamy, child marriage, and the harms of drugs. The council will create a website to announce crimes committed against women and the works of justice institutions. We will form a platform consisting of all women's institutions and organizations that fight violence against women. We will make efforts to protect women in the Cizre region and to increase the number of temporary shelters along with the Women's Administration and the Women's Coordination in the Cizre Region. A commission will be formed for the preparation of the draft for Civil Code.”