The Women’s Conference held at the Azadi Hall in the city of Qamishlo, Rojava (North and East Syria), concluded yesterday, Tuesday. The event was held under the slogan: “Together to Guarantee Women’s Rights in the Syrian Constitution.”
The core recommendations of the conference are as follows:
Constitutional Entrenchment of the “Women’s Revolution” Gains: To establish the achievements of the women’s revolution in North and East Syria and the rest of the country as sovereign rights, and to solidify the values of substantive equality in the Syrian constitution to safeguard these historical milestones against any future political or legislative reversals.
Adoption of Full Parity (50%): To implement the principle of total parity as a mandatory structural rule and the sole legal standard for staffing all administrative positions in sovereign state institutions, the parliament, and the judiciary, thereby ending the monopoly on political decision-making and ensuring gender justice in state governance.
Constitutional Institutionalization of “Democratic Decentralization”: To adopt decentralization as a political and legal framework to integrate Autonomous Administration institutions into the Syrian state structure. This ensures their transformation into self-governing units with full legislative and executive powers, preserving the uniqueness of the women’s democratic experience as an inspiring national model.
Recognition of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ): To recognize the YPJ as a fundamental and authentic pillar of the Syrian national defense system, while maintaining its full organizational and leadership independence as a force protecting society and a security guarantee against terrorism and all forms of exclusionary mentalities.
Legislation for Political Pluralism: To enact democratic laws that guarantee the licensing and legal recognition of all political parties, organizations, and women’s movements representing the popular will in the Autonomous Administration regions, and to prohibit any security-related targeting or restrictions against them under the umbrella of the new Syrian state.
Combating Hate Speech: To enact strict legislation criminalizing all forms of hate speech and incitement against women, establishing legal mechanisms to hold accountable those who practice defamation or systematic campaigns against female leaders and pioneers aimed at excluding them from the public sphere or distorting their political and social roles.
Establishment of a “Women’s Rights Protection Authority”: To form an authority with constitutional power, granting it the right to veto any law or legislation that conflicts with the principle of equality, and providing it with the legal mandate to oversee the alignment of all national legislation with international conventions.
Recognition of Educational and Service Systems: To grant full official recognition to the educational curricula of the Autonomous Administration and the existing health and service systems, and to consider linguistic and cultural pluralism (Kurdish, Syriac, Arabic, Armenian) as a sacred citizenship right managed by the community within its decentralized framework without central interference.
Enactment of a Unified Civil Personal Status Law: To draft a law inspired by the “Women’s Law” applied in the Autonomous Administration, which abolishes all discriminatory laws, protects women from all forms of violence, and ensures absolute sovereignty over their civil and personal affairs.
Freedom of Movement and Activity: To guarantee the freedom of movement, residence, and work in women’s, civil, and political fields for all women and activists across Syrian governorates without security or administrative restrictions, and to prohibit all forms of prosecution or harassment related to public activity.
Release of Detainees and the Disappeared: To demand the immediate and unconditional release of all female and male detainees, abductees, and those forcibly disappeared due to their political or civil activity. This includes systematic work to uncover the fate of the missing, treating this file as a non-negotiable humanitarian issue and a national moral commitment that precedes any political settlement process.
Radical and Gender-Sensitive Transitional Justice: To establish a transitional justice process that prioritizes holding perpetrators of violations accountable, ending the culture of impunity, and ensuring comprehensive psychological and material reparations for victims and survivors of the war.
Safe Return of Displaced Persons: To commit internationally and nationally to the voluntary and safe return of displaced persons and refugees to their original homes, and to work immediately on removing the effects of forced demographic change.
Building a Cross-Border Women’s Network: To create a network that transcends affiliations to enforce the representation of Syrian women’s will in all international decision-making circles regarding the political solution, ensuring that no social contract or constitution is drafted without a fully empowered feminist imprint.
Charter for Human Rights Defenders: To draft a charter providing legal and security protection for women human rights defenders and political activists, criminalizing any interference by security apparatuses in independent civil or political work.
Effective Participation in Constitutional Committees: To insist on the actual participation of women in all committees drafting the new constitution, ensuring the formulation of constitutional texts that guarantee the rights of all national and religious components and preserve pluralism as the core of the future Syrian identity.
Economic Independence: To secure the independence of economic resources allocated for women’s projects within the state’s general budget, ensuring women’s economic empowerment as an integral part of their independent political and social decision-making.
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