“Women's justice defends equality”

Welae El-Eli, member of the Women's Council for Social Justice in Cizîr Region, spoke to NuJINHA about the works of the council.

RONAHÎ NÛDA

Qamishlo- After the revolution in Rojava, many women’s organizations and institutes have been founded.  Women's Council for Social Justice is one of them. The goals of the council are to defend both individual and community rights. The Democratic Nation project is implemented by women, and women work paradigm of democracy, ecology, and women's freedom axis and realize the democratic nation project. The council defends the rights of all peoples, cultures, and beliefs and serves as a model for the entire region and the world. It embraces all women with its knowledge and experiences about justice and becomes the only mechanism that advocates women’s rights. Welae El-Eli, member of the Women's Council for Social Justice in Cizîr Region, spoke to NuJINHA about the works and activities of the council.

The role of the Women’s Council for Social Justice in the judiciary

Stating that the Women’s Council for Social Justice was established in 2016, Welae El-Eli said:

“The Women’s Council for Social Justice was officially established on July 26, 2016, by the Kongra Star. It oversees all judicial and social institutions and supervises all of the women's judicial institutions in NE Syria. It works coordinately with the Mala Jin (Women’s House), Peace Committee, and the Court of Justice. The council also monitors the implementation of women’s laws and women’s problems in justice institutions. It provides practical and ideological training, launches awareness-raising campaigns, and gives opinions the incidents and cases. The council holds a conference every two years. At the conference, the two-year activities are discussed and the members of the council are elected and the council determines a two-year road map. The council holds a meeting every month to discuss their works. The members of the council are also the members of the Board of Inspection, Judicial Executive Board, and General Social Justice Council.”

“Justice is conscience, equality, democracy, and ethics”

Underlining that justice is the conscience of the human beings; Welae continued to talk as follows:

“In order to secure justice, people must first listen to their conscience because justice is conscience and ethics. Justice is a concept and understanding that provides the balance between individuals in the whole community. Justice is also the attainment of human rights and the free life itself. Justice guarantees everyone’s right to equal life in society. A durable system and laws are essential to secure justice. This system should serve the interests of society, not the interests of the state. Judges should be honest to achieve equality in society.”

“The laws enacted for women defend their rights”

Welae also spoke about the laws of women.

“Many laws have been enacted and put into effect for women. But the most discussed laws were about polygamy, child marriage, and betrayal in marriage. After discussions, the articles of these laws were determined. In the beginning, we faced difficulties and obstacles for these laws, particularly the laws about polygamy and child marriage, because our society is still under the influence of that old traditional mentality. These laws were new since our society was based on tribe and religion. There are still difficulties and obstacles but we can say that these laws are mostly accepted by society. In order to ensure social justice and to change the reactionary mentality, our council should struggle against this mentality. Our duty is to fight against the dirty mentality against women's lives and to build a life based on the Democratic Nation.”

Problems and their solution methods

Speaking about the problems and their solution methods, Welae said:

“The Women’s Council for Social Justice doesn’t handle the problems in society directly. The Peace Committee and Women’s House handle the problems of civilians. People apply to us when they face problems such as problems of debt, rights violations, and partition of lands. Our council works coordinately with the Mala Jin (Women’s House), Peace Committee, and the Court of Justice to solve all the problems of society.”

“Women secure justice”

Emphasizing that women secure and build justice, Welae said, “For thousands of years, women organized society on the basis of social morality. Women secured and built justice. Unfortunately, after the building of the capitalist system, justice was taken away from women and removed from natural life. The cause of women is clear; they want to take their rights back and to change the patriarchal mindset. Society falls with the fall of women and develops with the development of women. Women must be liberated if a free and democratic society is wanted to be built. Women needed a council struggling for women’s rights. The Women’s Council for Social Justice works especially for women because women understand each other better. Women have played a big role and have proven themselves about social justice and they have struggled to secure freedom and justice.”