The new head of women’s affairs, Aisha al-Dibs, tells Al Jazeera that women from all provinces and ethnicities will help rebuild the war-torn country.
The newly appointed head of the women’s affairs office under Syria’s interim government says the government will enable women to help rebuild the country devastated by more than a decade of conflict.
In an interview with Al Jazeera from Damascus on Sunday, Aisha al-Dibs said the government was committed to engaging Syrian women in social, cultural and political institutions and recruiting qualified women in the health and education sectors.
“We all know that the Syrian woman is historically an extremely effective woman who can be a leader in any field. Today we are about to give her back this leading role in building Syria, a new country, the free country that we all aspire to,” al-Dibs said.
She pledged to encourage women from all Syrian provinces and ethnicities to attend an upcoming national conference to discuss the country’s future.
Al-Dibs said the establishment of the Office of Women’s Affairs, with her as its head, was in response to questions about the role of Syrian women in the new government.
Syria’s new rulers came to power earlier this month after opposition forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)launched a lightning offensive from northwestern Idlib province in November, taking government troops one town after another without much resistance.
The opposition forces reached Damascus in the early hours of December 8th and announced the end of the Bashar al-Assad family’s iron fist rule of more than 50 years over Syria.
Western countries are grappling with their approach to HTS, a former al-Qaeda affiliate. HTS has been labeled a “terrorist” group by many Western governments, although the group has tempered its rhetoric in recent months.
The United Nations Security Council in a statement Earlier this week, they called for the implementation of an “inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process” that they said should meet the legitimate aspirations of all Syrians, protect them all and “enable them to live peacefully, independently and democratically.” to decide their goals”. own future”.
Support for incarcerated women
After al-Assad’s fall, opposition fighters freed thousands of Syrians from a network of former regime prisons. Tens of thousands of people believed to have been detained by the Assad government remain in detention disregarded.
Al-Dibs also said her office will prepare a report on female inmates released from prisons and work on a comprehensive plan for their welfare. She added that she would seek to prosecute prison officials accused of human rights violations in prisons.
She said the “spontaneous and disorganized efforts” of people who joined opposition forces in opening prisons had resulted in prison records being manipulated. As a result, many female prisoners were lost.
“I will set up a phone number dedicated to imprisoned women, whether they have been imprisoned for a long time or recently, to count them and work with them,” al-Dibs said.
“The formerly incarcerated women need psychological support for rehabilitation. They need education, healthcare and legal protection as they prepare to file lawsuits against their prison guards.”
Al-Dibs, whose appointment was announced on Friday, is the first woman to hold a ministry in Syria’s new government. She is known for her rights advocacy and humanitarian work. She previously worked for a charity in the northwestern Idlib governorate and in the Syrian refugee camps in neighboring Turkiye.
