Indicating that the Women's Justice Council working coordinately with Mala Jin has resolved hundreds of cases, Henîfe Mihemed said,” Women are the basis of justice. Justice and equality cannot be ensured without women.

RONAHÎ NÛDA

Qamishlo – The Women’s Justice Council working coordinately with Mala Jin solves unresolved cases relating to women. The council plays an important role in society and aims to ensure democracy and equality in society. Since its establishment, it has resolved hundreds of cases and become a key for resolving social problems. In 2021, the council resolved 169 cases relating to women. And it has resolved 302 cases in the last four months. NuJINHA spoke to Henîfe Mihemed, a member of the Qamishlo Women's Justice Council, about the activities of the council.

The Women’s Justice Council was established in 2016

Stating that women’s works started under the umbrella of Yekîtiya Star, Henîfe Mihemed said, “When the Syrian crisis started and the revolution took place in Rojava Kurdistan, the need to establish social justice arose. So, women established the Women’s Justice Council in order to resolve social problems. Women are most affected by wars, conflicts and clashes. For this reason, we first established Mala Jin to find solutions to the problems faced by women. Then, we established the Women’s Justice Council in 2016 to protect women’s rights. The council is an independent organization and women make decisions about all issues. They make decisions about themselves and find solutions to the problems faced by them.”

“Women are the basis of justice”

Underlining that the council aims to ensure gender equality in society, she said, “Women are the basis of justice. For this reason, justice and equality cannot be ensured without women. With the emergence of sovereigns, women were left without a role and justice in society. The existing laws serve the existing system. We established the Women’s Justice Council with the motto, ‘Justice cannot be ensured without women’. Because women form the basis of society since they are the architects of justice, equality, culture and ethics. Equality cannot be ensured without them. Women are the meaning of life and they lead their societies with their existence. However, the existing system is the men's system. That’s why people suffer from problems and inequality. The problems are created by men themselves. The most challenging thing for us is the patriarchal mentality in society.”

Women’s Justice Council and Mala Jin

Speaking about the relationship between Mala Jin and the Women's Justice Council, Henîfe Mihemed said, “Mala Jin is part of justice. Mala Jin, Women’s Justice Council and Peace Assembly work coordinately with each other. Mala Jin works to resolve problems faced by women and when it cannot find any solutions to problems, it transfers the cases to the Women’s Justice Council. Mala Jin documents all cases and submits its report to the council. Then, the council resolves the problems. We determine our members.”

“It has saved hundreds of women from being killed”

Talking about the role of women in ensuring social justice, she said, “We have courts ruling about the cases. The people feel comfortable in courts. Many women and men apply to Mala Jin to find solutions to their problems. Women are also mothers so they always make fair decisions. Mala Jin has saved hundreds of women from being killed. Mala Jin works coordinately with all women’s organizations.”

“Thousands of cases have been resolved”

Speaking about the cases unsolved by Mala Jin, she said, “Mala Jin sends us reports about the unsolved cases. Most of the cases sent to us are social cases and the council launches investigations into these cases in order to make fair decisions. As women’s rights defenders, we have resolved thousands of cases until now. If a woman is subjected to violence, the women’s movement sends her to the women’s shelter. Then, Mala Jin protects her. We have archived the files of solved cases.”

“The problems have decreased but not ended”

Indicating that they have carried out many awareness-raising activities, she said, “In the past, the biggest problem in society was social media. Many young people were deceived on social media platforms. So, we launched a campaign to raise awareness of the public against the danger on social media platforms. In addition, the number of child marriage, polygamy and femicide case have been increasing. We have carried out awareness-raising activities to eliminate these phenomena. We have organized training programs and seminars according to the needs of society.”

“We aim to raise awareness of women”

Giving information about the seminars to be organized this year, she said, “We will organize seminars about women’s rights, free co-life, gender-based violence and women’s political participation. We will visit every house to raise awareness of women about their rights. Now, we suffer from a crisis and this crisis affects the whole society.” Henîfe Mihemed added that all women should seek their reality and said, “The women facing challenges should know that there are many women’s organizations and institutions supporting them. There are 62 Mala Jin branches across northeastern Syria and they can apply to them. We aim to develop our society and raise awareness of women.”