ROJ HOZAN

Qamishlo – Jiyan Hisen, the coordinating member of the NE Syria Women's Council, told us the activities and works of the council in 2021 and gave us information about their plans for 2022. After the foundation of the council, “We held the first congress of the council in June 2021. We wanted our congress to be a response to misogynists while our region is under the threat of invasion and especially women are targeted. At the congress, we decided to carry out works in 2021. We had meetings with many women’s organizations. We had also Zoom meetings with women from other countries. We held panels and seminars on the situation of women in the region and discussed solutions for women’s problems.”

They carried out many protests and activities

Stating that their main mission is to empower women, Jiyan Hisen said, “We witnessed how women were brutally targeted by the Turkish state in 2020. Especially, organized and educated women, who lead the revolution, were targeted. We came together with women’s organizations on the International Day of Peace. We formed a committee and release a joint statement on that day. In addition, we carried out many protests and activities between November 25 and December 10 as part of the 16 Day of Activism campaign against gender-based violence. We held awareness-raising meetings, seminars, and panels. The anti-violence march of men was one of the interesting activities.”

Women make significant gains

Speaking about the works of the council, Jiyan Hisen said, “Every year, we make significant gains, particularly in changing the male mentality. Our organizations have a co-presidency system. We also strengthen our work, especially with women's organizations. The important thing for us is to empower women’s participation in politics because women had difficulties in expressing themselves until now due to the mentality that keeps women away from politics. Women have an important role in NGOs but men still do not allow women to play the leading role within political parties.”

Women prepared a report for the formulation of the constitution

Emphasizing that women want to open an academy of political sciences so that women can see them as the main segment in politics, Jiyan Hisen continued to talk as follows: “However, it will take time. We also wanted to send our delegations to other countries to learn from the experiences of countries. However, we had to postpone this project due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Our aim is to bring more women into decision-making positions in politics. Syria needs a new constitution and the new constitution should include gender equality and women's will. We, as women, prepared a report for the formulation of the constitution and shared this report with the constitutional committee. While we were preparing the report, we examined the examples all around the world.”

Plans for 2022

Speaking about the council’s plans and programs for 2022, Jiyan Hisen told us, “The first thing we will do in 2022 is to carry out works to make o women's laws. When we founded the council, our main committee was the law committee and it has implemented laws only in the Cizre Region. These laws have not yet been implemented in Tabqa, Raqqa, Manbij, and Deir ez-Zor due to the tribal system in the region.”

“We will strengthen diplomatic initiatives in 2022”

“We will surely face challenges in realizing these projects because we need a revolution to change the mentality. Our laws reject polygamy, child marriages, violence against women, and femicide and guarantee women's rights. In 2022, we will organize training to empower women in politics and expand our international relations and cooperation. We will hold a conference to discuss the situation of women in the occupied areas, not only in Northern and Eastern Syria but also across Syria. Women from other countries will also participate in the conference. We will build a democratic society together. 2022 will be the year of women’s liberation.”