Afrinpost
Dozens of displaced women from the occupied Kurdish region of Afrin participated in a protest sit-in, which took place yesterday Monday in front of the United Nations offices in the city of Qamishlo, in which they demanded to reveal the fate of the kidnapped women in the Turkish occupation prisons and Islamic militias affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood , who call themselves the “Syrian National Army / Free Army”.
Dozens of activists and journalists joined the sit-in that took place in the “Al-Siyahi” street in the center of Qamishlo, and the protesters raised olive branches and pictures of kidnapees and other martyrs who died in previous times, as a result of kidnappings or in the prisons of the Brotherhood’s militia of the Turkish occupation.
During the sit-in, the participants also carried banners that read phrases such as “Turkey responsible for the crimes committed in Afrin”, “ISIS crimes are repeated in Afrin”, “Where are the women’s organizations from what is happening in Afrin?”
The displaced women demanded in a statement to “form an independent international commission of enquiry to hold the perpetrators accountable for the crimes they committed, including killing, kidnapping and torture of Kurdish women in Afrin, and to allow media institutions to enter the region. The statement reads as follow :
To Mr. António Gutteres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.
To Mrs. Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
To Mr. Paulo Pinheiro, chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic.
Videos and photos of the series of crimes and violations committed by Turkish occupation authorities and armed groups loyal to it affiliated with what is called the “Syrian National Army” in the Syrian Kurdish region of Afrin, recently leaked by the mercenaries themselves, revealed that these groups are holding dozens of Kurdish women in a military center and carrying out violence against them.
This visual evidence is added to dozens of daily reports and news about crimes and practices carried out by armed groups under the instructions of the Turkish occupation authorities, and it is an additional confirmation of this terroristic behavior that has ruled the region since Turkey occupied it. These actions are outside the realm of legality and do not take into account the lowest considerations for humanity and morality, amid the shameful silence of international institutions.
These armed factions are entities that do not posses even the lowest levels of legal legitimacy, and they are an instrument used by Ankara to occupy Afrin and displace 80% of its original Kurdish inhabitants. The rest of these residents remain in a large prison in which they are subjected to the imposition of fines, theft, imprisonment, torture, kidnapping, and murder.
The practices of armed groups against Kurdish women is a blatant violation of all internationally adopted laws and social norms, and it differs in no way from the practices of ISIS in enslaving women, insulting their dignity, and brutalizing them.
What is happening in Afrin violates the natural right of a human being to live, as well as a number of international laws, including:
– The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted internationally in Paris on 10/12/1948 and stated in its fifth article, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” In Article Nine: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.” In Article Twelve: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”
– Article Seven of the Rome Statute defines the imprisonment, torture, enslavement, and assault of women and their honor as a crime against humanity, punishable by international law.
– Article 27 of the Geneva Convention states that “protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their persons, their honor, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices, and their manners and customs”. It contains articles and provisions prohibiting cruel treatment and attacks on personal dignity.
– Declaration of the United Nations General Assembly in 1974 concerning the protection of women and children.
– Principles of the (1993) International Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.
– Recommendations in the CEDAW Convention on the Status of Women.
For all the above mentioned articles, we demand the international community and the relevant international institutions:
- Take immediate action to end all violations which have been occurring in Afrin for more than two years, and reveal the fate of the Kurdish women in prison in the prisons and detention centers of the armed factions loyal to the Turkish occupation and liberate them immediately.
- Form an international investigatory committee to prosecute perpetrators for the crimes they committed, including murder, kidnapping, and torture of Kurdish women in Afrin.
- Allow trusted media organizations to enter Afrin region to impart objectively and truthfully the bitter reality of the remaining indigenous people in it.
- End the Turkish occupation, expel the extremist groups, and ensure a safe and dignified return of displaced people to their lands.
- Classify the armed groups controlling Afrin as terrorist groups, according to the behavior they practice.
The Displaced Women of Afrin
June 1, 2020
