Syria conflict causing 'staggering'
humanitarian crisis
14 Jan 2013
With more then 600,000 Syrians having fled the country, the
International Rescue Committee is calling on the outside world to step up its
response. The US-based group describes the level of rape and sexual violence
occurring in the conflict as "horrific".
Women and girls under
attack
Jan 2013
After decades of working in war and disaster zones, the IRC
knows that women and girls suffer physical and sexual violence in every
conflict. Syria is no exception. Rape is a significant and disturbing feature of
the Syrian civil war. In the course of three IRC assessments in Lebanon and
Jordan, sexual violence was consistently identified by Syrian women, men and community
leaders as a primary reason their families fled the country. “We surrendered to
the reality of rape,” said a Syrian refugee in Lebanon, remarking on the severity
of rape in this crisis.
Many women and girls relayed accounts of being attacked in
public or in their homes, primarily by armed men. These rapes, sometimes by
multiple perpetrators, often occur in front of family members. The IRC was told
of attacks in which women and young girls were kidnapped, raped, tortured and
killed. Roadblocks, prolific throughout Syria, have become especially perilous
for women and girls. The IRC’s women’s protection team in Lebanon was told of a
young girl who was gang-raped and forced to stagger home naked—heightening her shame
in a society where modesty is so valued.
Because of the stigma and social norms around the “dishonor”
that rape brings to women and girls and their families, Syrian survivors rarely
report sexual violence. Many of those interviewed by the IRC said women and girl
survivors also fear retribution by assailants. Others are afraid of being
killed by family members if they report incidents, since a raped woman or girl
is thought to bring shame to a family.
The fear of rape is so significant that many families are
marrying off their daughters to “protect” them from rape. Others revert to
early marriage if their daughters have been sexually assaulted “to safeguard
their honor.” In one extreme case, the IRC was told of a father who shot his
daughter when an armed group approached to prevent the “disgrace” of her being
raped.
Syrian Fertility Goddess
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