Syrian feminist and activist Sabiha Khalil to SOHR: Honour crimes and rape are “war crimes”… Regional interventions are the biggest evidence of the Syrian opposition’s poor performance
During the past few years, the Syrian crisis has witnessed a series of political transformations and changes on the ground, influenced mostly by external international and regional factors. Political opposition leader and member of the Syrian women’s political movement, Sabiha Khalil, feels that nine years of the regime’s war on its people eliminated the basic elements of production and the permanence of life, where there is nothing left outside the broad circle, i.e. the state, to reach its narrow circle, pointing out that the nature of the regime is based on swallowing, destruction and authoritarianism, and the inter-confrontation and public confrontation was inevitable, especially since the conflict has increased the damage within the ruling elite.
“Here we remember very well the confrontations between Rifaat and Jamil al-Assad on one side and their brother Hafez on the other side, in addition to the financial obligations accumulated as a result of the cost of the military machine that protects the regime, apart from the pressure of the benefits of his allies, i.e. Russia and Iran, so I think that the repercussions of this conflict between the ruling entourage on the internal situation are limited, so I find that we are in the final stages of this first chapter of killing Syrians,” she said.
Sabiha believes that the conflict in Syria is an international and regional conflict with local tools, noting that this “applies to the beginnings of peaceful movement in 2011 when the regime resorted to its Iranian ally who participated in the suppression of peaceful demonstrations through proxy organizations in many Arab countries, while today, after approaching the completion of an entire decade, several countries are directly involved in this conflict”.
“We can say that it is an undeclared global war that uses the blood of Syrians, so there will be no success for any Syrian self-initiative that brings together the internal and external Syrian parties, unless the international and regional conflict parties agree, and what worries the Syrian people through bartered deals that achieve regional and international interests, and deliberately ignore the origin of the Syrian problem and ways of solution that require ending the era of tyranny in all its forms and building a state for all Syrians, a state of equal citizenship, where individuals and components are equal to rights and duties in the law,” Sabiha added.
The feminist activist thinks that drafting a new constitution could be a gateway to the beginning of the political process, but this is not the alternative to a comprehensive political solution that begins with the formation of a fully-fledged transitional governing body as stipulated in the relevant international resolutions: the Geneva Declaration 2012, Security Council Resolution 2118 and Resolution 2254.
Khalil describes the performance of the Syrian opposition as “bad” reflecting the intensity of regional and international polarizations and interventions on Syrian soil, and adds: “The opposition needs to reassess its performance so that it does not drift away completely with the flood of external interests, especially with the deviation of many opposition frameworks from the Syrian national compass”. Khalil also thinks that the projects of demographic change in many Syrian cities and towns are one aspect of the features of the failure of these oppositions that have been involved in passing such agendas. “These catastrophic mistakes have threatened Syria’s future for decades, if not centuries, and increased the complexities of the political solution, and in the end the Syrians did not pay all this high price against tyranny to serve the projects of greedy states in Syrian territory, which do not hesitate to destroy its social fabric through suspicious projects encapsulated in what is ideological or ideological”.
“The regime used to link its failure to cosmic conspiracies hatched against him and before the official announcement of the first case of coronavirus, the minister of health came out to announce the victory of his army on ‘germs and virus-like terrorist’. It is not expected from the regime that familiarised for decades with sanctions and crises as well as the growth effects of Caesar sanctions, to change its behaviour or policies”.
Khalil added that the regime is preoccupied with the People’s Assembly elections, in a situation that resembles a black comedy. “It is important to push for the commitment of the countries involved in the Syrian affairs to support the relief and humanitarian file of the Syrian people, and on the entire Syrian territory under neutral international auspices, to focus on the need for a comprehensive political solution under the umbrella of the United Nations, and not to turn to Geneva with alternative paths that serve the interests of the countries that distribute losses, defeats, hunger and poverty to Syrian civilians”.
Khalil touches upon the representation of women in political, social and association life, stressing that women are excluded from participation “for reasons related to masculinity and political inclusiveness, which continue to question women’s abilities and the importance of their role in political work,” in addition to “limited participation related to a number of complex circumstances that govern Syria”.
Khalil feels that the environment surrounding women’s political participation in Syria is not safe, noting that it affects even men at times in societies that “have been and continue to be polluted by politics, which many have been and continue to suffer”.
“Tyranny, in turn, has dedicated this, whether through the security grip or through the production of bad and corrupt political models,” she said, adding that the women’s political movement in Syria “has a history despite all the patronage of tyranny, not to mention the effects of war from radical Salafist tendencies that women have had a great share of their injustice”.
“It is enough that the movement is true to its objectives and pursues moral policies and will not deviate from standing by the vulnerable and adhering to the Syrian national principles,” she said.
With regard to recent reports on the high rates of underage marriage, particularly in refugee camps and the high incidences of rape crimes, Khalil believes that early marriage was widespread before the war in Syria for many reasons, some of which are related to cultural and societal heritage, particularly in poor environments, but have turned into cases of systematic violence or forced marriage against girls in camps, countries of asylum and areas of displacement, and may in some respects rise to war crimes or crimes against humanity. “In Afrin, such cases have been documented under the threat of displacement and detention,” she said.
Khalil says that the beginning of the solution lies in the cessation of the domination of the militants and their withdrawal from civilian areas, which is a universal popular demand, and prevents them from interfering in public life, which is the task of the states involved in the Syrian affairs to put pressure on the de facto authorities and by all parties, and to open these areas to the free media and impartial civil and human rights organizations to support and surround women and girls, so that they do not fall victim to early or forced marriage as a result of poverty, destitution and threat.
Regarding the implications of Caesar Act on the regime and the Syrian people, Sabiha Khalil says: “If a rock falls on the regime from the sky, it will work hard to fall on the entire people. This was the regime’s policy for decades: collective punishment. So I’m not optimistic that these sanctions will change its behaviour despite the importance of the law in some aspects of justice and retribution from criminals, but I think it will increase the dose of pressure from the regime on the remaining Syrian people and use them as hostages, as the regime has already used the policy of starvation to subdue the Syrian people and excelled in it”.
“In all cases, the international community should not give up its duties towards the Syrian people, and should seriously consider that there is no alternative to regime change through clear and explicit ways based on the decisions of international legitimacy and the interests of Syrians are of higher moral value,” she said.