10 Years of Syrian Conflict – Women’s Voices

ONLINE TEA TIME WITH BAYAN ALFADEL

15th March, 7-8 pm

The Arab Uprisings started 10 years ago and led to the unfolding of irreversible political and societal change in many countries. In Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, the decade-old regimes were brought down as a direct consequence of the revolutions and in several others, mass protests have led to significant legislative changes. Syria is the most prominent example of the regime responding violently to protesters, leading to an armed conflict that has taken an immense human toll and pushed wide parts of the country into destruction.

On 15 March 2011, the first nationwide protests erupted, leading to what would become several months of citizen’s upheaval. Violent responses by the Assad regime led to thousands of protesters being objected to torture or killed in what escalated into the Syrian Civil War. 10 years into this devastating conflict, more than 300,000 people have died, approx. 7.6 million are internally displaced and over 5 million have left the country. At this stage, it is an internationalized war exacerbated by varying interests of several different parties.

But how have these 10 years been experienced by women? How are women’s experience of this conflict, its violence and the consolidation attempts? To understand this, it is crucial to hear the voices of Syrian women and recognize the evolution from the legal and social situation women faced in Syrian society even prior to 2011. Recognizing the different effects of this conflict on women and their responses over the last years is crucial to understanding the role women are taking to shape the future of Syria and the region.

We will try to answer these questions in conversation with Bayan Alfadel,  a researcher on the Syrian conflict, Ph.D. candidate in Human Security and Global Law, UAB Barcelona. She holds a Master in International Security from Sciences Po Paris, worked with Syria Relief in Turkey on humanitarian responses to the Syrian conflict and has been supporting the creation of a women support unit for those that were tortured inside Syria.

If you would like to join our online Tea Time via Zoom, please sign up below. We will send you the Zoom link shortly before the start of the event. We are looking forward to an engaging and interesting discussion and hope to see many of you there!

This event is organized by Polis180’s program Gender and International Politics.