EASO COI Report. Situation of women

English

The purpose of this report is to analyse the situation of women in Syria, focusing mainly on the general situation of women in the country while also paying special attention to area-specific features in those parts of Syria under the control of non-state armed groups, information relevant for international protection status determination, including refugee status and subsidiary protection, and in particular to inform the EASO country guidance development on Syria.

The report consists of two main chapters. The first chapter deals with the general situation of women in Syria, while focusing, in the first section, on the effects of the civil war and on the violations against women during the conflict. Since human rights violations, war crimes, sexual and gender-based violence against women are the most frequently mentioned issues taken into consideration during the refugee status determination process, it was decided to begin the report with a discussion of these issues.

The second section of the first chapter provides more background information to the situation of women in the Syrian society in general, including on patriarchal values, legal status, work and education. This part contains mostly information applicable to all Syrian women irrespective of the geographical and administrative context and also some information on specific issues in the areas controlled by the Government of Syria, affecting the majority of Syrian women. The role of the Government of Syria is discussed especially in the first section and in the context of violations against women in Syria.

The second chapter of the report – while being considerably more succinct than the first – examines the situation of women in those areas of Syria controlled by non-state armed groups. The sections in this part focus on the situation of women in the Idlib enclave dominated by jihadist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), in the Kurdish areas in north-east Syria, in areas under control of Turkey-backed armed groups, and in areas under the influence of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) (respectively).

The first draft of this report was finalised on 18 November 2019. Some additional information was added during the finalisation of this report in response to feedback received during the quality control process, until 10 January 2020. Any event taking place after this date is not included in this report.

EASO would like to acknowledge the Finnish Immigration Service as the drafter of this report.

The following departments and organisations have reviewed the report:

Belgium, Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS), Centre for Documentation and Research (Cedoca)

France, Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides (OFPRA), division de l’information, de la documentation et des recherches (DIDR)

ACCORD, the Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation

This report was written according to the EASO COI Report Methodology (2019).

Policy

Coming soon.

Land: 
Syria

Information about the asylum procedure, tailored to the asylum seeker, can be found at : asyluminbelgium.be.