The Syrian army is getting its hands on new-looking EU-branded trucks. An undercover investigation found evidence of a secretive supply chain routing vehicles from Europe to Syria through neighboring countries such as Jordan and Lebanon.

The post The Secretive Supply Chain Sending EU Trucks to Syria appeared first on SIRAJ.

Asa’ad and his daughter were able to cross the border for free healthcare months ago, under authorization from the Turkish government. According to figures issued by authorities from the Syrian crossing, more than 500 patients entered Turkey to receive treatment last February.

That was until the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) accelerated, prompting the Turkish government to cut off their lifeline in mid March, just three days after Ankara confirmed its first case and two weeks before Damascus declared the appearance of its first confirmed cases.

Doctors in the Idlib governorate have stated that since mid-March only a handful of high-risk emergency cases were allowed entry into Turkey, amidst an increasing number of cases in both countries. Patients suffering from cancer and other chronic illnesses are not among them.

For the time being, Marah, along with hundreds of other patients, remains stranded and unable to receive life-saving treatment.

As Asa’ad carries his ailing child on his forearm, she rests her head on his shoulder to whisper unintelligible words. His eyes fill with tears as he says, “She has jaw cancer and as the tumor grows, her pain grows with it. These days she cannot even sleep from the agonizing pain, despite taking all types of painkillers. My daughter needs treatment. Please, Lord, don’t forsake us.”

Due to lack of treatment in north Syria, doctors have unanimously agreed on the necessity for Marah to head to Turkey for medical care, says the family, but she remains until this day stranded at the border.

With the continued spread of the Coronavirus and the accompanying restrictions against Syrians along the Syrian-Turkish border, this investigation explores the plight of those suffering from cancer and other chronic diseases as they await their turn to enter Turkey.

400 Cancer Patients Await Reprieve

The Idlib Health Directorate describes the scale of the suffering cancer patients are facing in northern Syria, amidst increasingly poor medical care in the region. Issues hindering access to treatment include acute shortages of medicine, equipment, and working medical facilities, not to mention the rising costs of the few available treatment drugs left in the area. Such difficulties prompted patients to enter Turkey through the Bab Al Hawa Border Crossing, after obtaining a medical referral from the health directorate.

On the 13th of March, the Bab Al Hawa Border Crossing announced its closure towards ‘cold case’ patients – the Arabic term that encompasses chronic illness such as cancer and heart disease – and travellers. The crossing remained closed to cancer patients until the first of June, after which authorities allowed the entry of only 5 patients a day for treatment in Turkey, following coordination between the crossing administration and Turkish authorities.

Barely a week had passed before the border pass was once again closed off, an act prompted by a number of reported Coronavirus cases in north Syria. The crossing was reopened later on, under strict requirements for patients to adhere to safety measures against the virus.

According to Doctor Mohammad al-Salam working at Bab Al Hawa Hospital, the repeated closure led to a rise in critical cases among ‘cold case’ patients.

Mazen Alloush, the director of the Office of Public Relations and Information at the crossing, has revealed that over 400 cancer patients have been waiting their turn to enter Turkey for weeks, aside from the dozens that haven’t applied in the first place. Alloush also stressed that the majority of patients need entry as soon as possible due to mounting critical cases.

As a result of recent restrictions, the medical state of Maram al-Sayyed, 45, is in rapid deterioration. This is the third consecutive time she has not been allowed to cross into Turkey for treatment, even though her 8-month-old Leukemia condition has reached well into its advanced stages.

She takes several minutes to gather her strength to speak, “I am exhausted; the disease has been eating away at my body for some time, and I am getting worse. I cannot go to government-held hospitals where people are getting arrested, while Turkey here closes the crossing. What do I do as this cancer ravages my body?”

Maram is receiving pain medication as well as up to two blood transfusions per day at the Idlib Central Hospital, to no avail.

It is up to hospitals and health centers in the liberated north to work with aid agencies to secure medication for the time being, until the rest of the cases are transferred to Turkey for the appropriate treatment.

With spread of COVID-19, the Turkish government cut off the lifeline to Syrian cancer patients seeking treatment by mid March; Three days after Ankara confirmed its first case and two weeks before Damascus declared the appearance of its first cases

“The man’s attempts to enter his cancer-afflicted daughter into Turkish territory to receive the necessary treatment have yielded no results despite putting in several applications to gain entry… For the time being, Marah, along with hundreds of other patients, remains stranded and unable to receive life-saving treatment.”

Idlib opposition Health Director Dr. Monzer Khalil describes the damages done to health facilities in northwest Syria by stating, “The regime has targeted more than 75 medical centers from April 2019 until today. Government forces advancing on and taking areas from the northern rural Hamah to the Southern rural Idlib, have caused the facilities’ closure.” He went on to point out, “Acute shortages of specialized medical staff also cannot match patient numbers. There is also a shortage in medical equipment such as MRIs, CT scans, and many others.”

Delay Leads to Death

Weeks ago, Yousef Barbour, 22, passed away due to delays in entering Turkey to receive treatment, despite the repeated appeals of his mother. The young man had needed a bone marrow transplant.

Such amounts of increased suffering prompted Syrian humanitarian actors to call on Turkish authorities to find some way to admit critical cases for medical care in their hospitals. However, the crossing remains closed.

A 3-year lung cancer patient, Salem al-Ahmad, 50, had been lucky enough to enter Turkish hospitals for treatment earlier. He says, “Things were much simpler then; Turkish doctors at the border crossing would not reject cancer patients, who were considered priority cases. What used to be over 100 cases admitted per day became just five cases, and this led to the deprivation of many patients’ early treatment.”

Mazen al-Saud, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the Free Aleppo University and former director of Doctors Without Borders hospital in Ma’arat al-Nu’man, comments, “The lack of radiotherapy in the Idlib Governorate is a major obstacle for cancer patients there, since chemotherapy is often ineffective, with the tumor reappearing more aggressively in other areas in the body.”

He adds that the number of cancer patients in the Idlib region has multiplied by 10 percent than in previous years, specifically breast cancer for women and lung, colon, and stomach cancer for men.

The WHO stated in an earlier report that cancer in Syria is 3rd among the 10 main fatal illnesses, with cases expected to further rise amidst damaged hospitals left unavailable for use.

According to the report, around 25,000 cancer patients require treatment every year, including a staggering 2,500 below the age of 15 years suffering from leukemia and lymphoma.

Within the camps of Tal Alkarama in the Harem District north of Syria, Monaf Mohammad al-Saleh, 11, suffers from speech impairment, an amputation in his left leg, and deformed fingers, along with a hazardous lack of sensation.

Monaf was hit by rocket shrapnel from Russian air raids as he played outside his home in Sarha in eastern Hama. Doctors say his leg suffered from a bacterial infection that reached the bone and left dead tissue in its wake.

His father says, “We couldn’t find him treatment. In addition to the financial situation and lack of good hospitals, he hasn’t been able to receive the proper treatment yet. He needs to enter Turkey as soon as possible. Sadly, the closed border due to the Coronavirus is endangering his life, keeping in mind that the chances of him recovering and benefiting from his treatment lessens as time passes.”

After Syrian government forces entered the village of Sarha, Monaf’s family fled to camps in northern rural Idlib. Doctors were forced to amputate the infected leg after the boy’s condition deteriorated due to lack of proper health requirements. He later got an infection on his tongue from unknown causes.

The father recounts, “It became hard for him to speak and talk. He also lost sensation in his body and couldn’t feel heat or cold or fire.”

Weapons Residues

Among the reasons for the recent spike in cancer cases in Syria, Dr. Hind, a research oncologist at the Idlib province, lists three: there has been a spread of kidney infections and liver diseases that – when left untreated – can become precursors to cancer; poor food quality and the consumption of expired goods; as well as the drastic “loss of hospitals, medical equipment and personnel that impedes routine checkups and, thus, lowers chances for early detection and diagnosis.”

The rise in cancer rates was a foreseen consequence in liberated areas, however, where toxic chemicals, heavy weaponry, rampant destruction, and environmental pollution are widespread remnants of the war.

To that extent, Dr. Ayham al-Ahmad posits the higher cancers rates in liberated areas as a result of the heavy presence of toxic and oxidized weapons, as well as the overall lack of environmental hygiene and cleanliness in these areas – all of which encourage viral and bacterial infections that act as catalysts for the development of cancerous tumors.

 His eyes fill with tears as he says, “She has jaw cancer and as the tumor grows, her pain grows with it”

Moreover, the entirety of northwest Syria suffers a shortage of cancer treatment medications, compelling patients to make the journey south towards regime-controlled areas, where treatment is more available. With its gruesome roads, many checkpoints, and costly travel expenses, however, the lengthy trips are exhaustive to both the patients’ health and their pockets.

Faisal, 43, lives with his wife and nine children in a tent at one of the many makeshift camps sprung along the Syrian-Turkish border. Six months ago, he was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor and has since not been able to get treated owing to the dilapidation of medical facilities in the Idlib province and the unfeasibility of obtaining medicine from Turkey after the shutdown of its borders.

Faisal outright refuses to go to Damascus, where he is adamant that regime forces detained two of his brothers for aiding the Syrian revolution. According to him, one of his brothers was murdered and the other disappeared not long after.

“The Turkish medical team refused to let her pass despite all our appeals, saying she is a non-emergency ‘cold case’… The delay in her treatment can lead to the growth and spread of the tumor, deteriorating her already worsening state.”

As his health deteriorated with the growth of the brain tumor, the imperative to find medication grew more urgent, and Faisal turned to charity-based pharmacies for help. Alas, to no avail.

The Turkish medical team refused to let her pass despite all our appeals, saying she is a non-emergency ‘cold case’… The delay in her treatment can lead to the growth and spread of the tumor, deteriorating her already worsening state

A doctor working at the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) office in the Turkish city of Gaziantep notes, “The SAMS center in Idlib is the only place offering treatment for breast cancer, lymphatic cancer and colon cancer in the entire province. The treatments are free and available to all, but due to the center’s lack of funding and the restrictions set on the import of certain drugs, about a third of our patients are forced to buy their medication from local drug stores run by the clinic.

Not everyone is able to procure their treatment, and the center isn’t able to treat everyone. We used to move more critical patients, like those suffering from leukemia or brain cancer, to Turkey for treatment, but that all halted with the coronavirus pandemic.”

Deteriorating Health Conditions

In the city of Ma’arrat Misrin north of Idlib, Ru’aa al-Ali, an 8-year-old brain tumor patient, hasn’t been able to enter Turkish territories for treatment despite best efforts, as Turkey continues to cut-off access to its border passes with Syria due to the ongoing pandemic.

Her mother says Ru’aa was diagnosed a year ago and underwent a 3-month-long treatment in Turkey. She returned to rural Idlib after her condition stabilized, however, “her state has worsened recently and she needs radiotherapy, which is unavailable here.”

The distraught mother goes on to say, “The Turkish medical team refused to let her pass despite all our appeals, saying she is a non-emergency ‘cold case’… The delay in her treatment can lead to the growth and spread of the tumor, deteriorating her already worsening state.”

Turkish authorities in the border crossing could not be reached for comment, while the head of a Turkish-run medical center in rural Aleppo declined to comment on the halt of medical transfers regarding both cancer and chronic disease patients.

With the continued closure of the border pass amidst the ongoing pandemic and the number of those suffering from chronic illnesses continuing to grow, the fate of more than 400 cancer patients denied access to treatment, remains pending.

This investigation was carried out under the supervision of the ‘Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism‎ (SIRAJ)’ and the support of the ‘International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)’, as well as the Facebook Journalism Project, published on Raseef22

The post With Bab Al Hawa Border Closed, Syrians Are Deprived of Cancer Treatment appeared first on SIRAJ.

Amina, her husband, and five children arrived in Lebanon in 2012, seeking medical care for her husband who was injured in a bombing frenzy near Damascus. 

Amina and her family are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Beirut, and their basic needs, such as housing; food assistance; and the husband’s treatment are mainly provided by charities. They had no idea, however, that they needed to renew their Lebanese residence permits, which they learned of when Amina’s husband was notified of a non-renewal fine of US $800 (1,760,000 Syrian Pounds). By the time he managed to secure the fine’s money and went to pay it, Amina’s husband received a deportation order from the General Security. 

During her stay in Lebanon, Amina gave birth to two other sons. One was born with a congenital heart disease and needed treatment that was expensive in Lebanon. Considering that medical care was free in Syria, the mother set her mind to travelling back with her two younger sons. “On the Syrian border post, the Lebanese authorities gave me a pink form, which was supposedly to help me legalize my status in Syria, except that it contained an order of no-entry to Lebanon because I overstayed my residence permit’s duration,” Amina says.  

In keeping with the regulations enforced by the Lebanese government since early 2015, Syrian citizens adhere to certain entry procedures, whereby they must obtain the border authorities’ approval for entry and provide relevant supporting documents. Syrians are then granted permits of various stay periods. In cases of transit through Lebanon; medical visits; or an appointment with a foreign embassy, for instance, Syrians are allowed a 24 hours stay, which extends to a whole year for residents; university students; and the holders of a work authorization. It ought to be noted that these regulations have been declared illegal and annulled by Lebanon’s State Shura Council under Resolution No. 412/2017-2020, for being passed by an incompetent authority. 

Amina tried to return to Lebanon three months later, having completed her son’s treatment in Syria. It was then that the Lebanese Border Guard told her she was denied access, and the reason, to her shock, was the non-renewal of her Lebanese residence permit. She had no other choice but to return to Syria once again. Amina eventually returned to Lebanon through her husband’s Lebanese personal connections, who helped him send an official letter to the General Security on the border post. Upon entering the Lebanese territories, the authorities confiscated Amina’s passport, and those of her two sons. She was notified of the need to refer to the General Security Office (GSO) in Beirut. 

At the office in question, officials asked her to return 15 days later. She did, and again she was turned down. Amina, for quite a while, kept showing at the GSO, until finally one employee told her to never return, or otherwise he would arrest her. 

This is the story of many Syrian refugees in Lebanon, whose life has stopped because their official documents, particularly passports; identity documents; and residence permits are seized by the General Security. Refugees thus have limited mobility, within Lebanon, while not allowed to go abroad. In addition, they are deprived of their right to seeking job opportunities, and registering vital events at the Civil Registry. Syrian refugees cannot record marriages; or divorces; or even births.  

Playing on Terminology

It was the shared terrain between Syria and Lebanon why scores of Syrians living on the border strip flocked into Lebanon as combat escalated. 

Compared to its per capita, Lebanon has hosted the largest number of Syrian refugees since 2011. And because it is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, Lebanon has enforced no laws to protect refugees’ rights, who are usually stripped of their legal status as refugees, and are rather referred to as internally displaced people (IDPs).  By opting for one term instead of the other, the Lebanese government manages to escape obligations it must adhere to should it recognize people it hosts as refugees. The latter are not offered a resettlement; or any of the other rights granted to citizens, including healthcare, education, and work. The distinction between the two legal terms is central; unlike refugees, IDPs have not crossed a border to find safety, and they are on the run at home. For their part, refugees are people who have fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and have crossed an international border to find safety in another country.

According to Access Center for Human Rights, like Amina, 41 Syrian refugees in Lebanon were subjected to civil documents confiscations in 2019. In three of these cases, group confiscations were committed against civil society organizations employees. An additional 26 cases were documented by the center between early 2020 and 15 October, four of the victims were civil activists. Out of the whole, 22 of the people subjected to such seizures were registered with the UNHCR, and other 13 have entered Lebanon legally.    

As might be expected, seizure of documents denies refugees their right to movement within Lebanon, or travelling abroad; making a living under their poor economic conditions; or even filing civil registration requests, such as registering  marriages and divorces, or adding newborns to civil records.  

Compared to its per capita, Lebanon has hosted the largest number of Syrian refugees since 2011. And because it is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, Lebanon has enforced no laws to protect refugees’ rights.

The confiscations committed by the local authorities are a blatant violation of human rights, well-established in multiple international conventions, particularly the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 

Founded in 1921, the Lebanese General Security Directorate was called the “first bureau.”  Formally, it is one of the agencies affiliated to the Ministry of Interior, and municipalities, while it is the chief agency to handle refugees-related legal affairs in Lebanon.  

 “Those with reported offences, or working without ‘an authorization,’ are at the risk of having a deportation stamp on their official documents, when arrested by a checkpoint, or during a visit to the GSO. Most of these deportation orders are not implemented, however, because of the pressure imposed by human rights organizations on the Lebanese authorities,”  Nabil al-Halabi says, a Lebanese lawyer and the director of the Lebanese Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (LIFE). So, in most of the cases discussed here, people have to tolerate the victim/offender duality. Refugees are often coerced to breach the law due to such resolutions, which are in themselves a violation of local laws, and Lebanon’s international obligations. Deprivation of legal status makes refugees vulnerable, and an easy prey for the security checkpoints, as it allows for robbing them of their basic rights; denies them legal access to residency; and turns them into outlaws. Once these people leave Lebanon; they will not be able to return in any way. 

No Syrian refugee is spared this deadlock. Amounting to 879,529 registered persons, according to UNHCR figures, Syrians in Lebanon, who primarily reside in areas across Beqaa and northern regions, constitute 15.8% of the total number of Syrian refugees hosted on the world’s level. 

Confiscation Consequences

The Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2017-2020 (LCRP), the UNHCR reports, seeks to provide a framework for an integrated humanitarian-development response in which the needs of the refugees are met– to the extent possible, based on national laws and policies. 

Despite the plan, Amina’s rights to her basic needs, and to reclaiming her confiscated official documents are nothing but a wish, she hopes will be fulfilled sometime soon.  

In 2020, Amina said, “we were asked to refer to the Amioun Municipality, with our children and their documents, for there were instructions to deport us to Syria. We were also to pay a fine of 3 million Lebanese Pounds (LP) on behalf of my eldest son, who is 20-year-old.” There, the family fingerprinted the deportation order; their civil documents were confiscated; and only their expired passports were returned. 

The family reached out to the UNHCR, which informed them to change their residence place. After they did so, Amina’s husband lost his job, and her eldest son, who got married and moved to live in another house, was no longer capable of working because his identity document was in the hold of the General Security. “We live in different areas, my son and I. We cannot visit each other for fear of leaving home. I have not seen him in five months,” Amina added.

Unable to retrieve her confiscated passport, nor those of her family, Amina missed the chance of traveling to Turkey in 2015. From Turkey, she intended to head to Europe as many other Syrian refugees did back then. She said, “my son and husband used to work, and now both are unemployed. My son was even offered a job opportunity at Tripoli Port, but he ended up losing it for not having an identity document.” Today, the family has no source of income, and lives in a 30-meter-room—actually a basement in a residential building. They were offered the room in return for tending the building’s door and cleaning its entrance.

According to the UNHCR in Lebanon, refugees face increased protection-related risks, given their lack of legal residency. They are vulnerable to arrest; deportation; eviction; sexual violence; gender-based violence; and child abuse. Furthermore, there is an extreme shortage of basic assistance, particularly in the fields of healthcare; shelter; and sanitation.

The confiscation of documents’ biggest loss, however, was Hassan Ahmad’s, a 28-year-old Syria refugee, who also chose to go by a pseudonym. He failed to register his marriage, and his son’s birth, at the Civil Registry. Hassan’s toddler is now more than a year old, and is stateless.  In 2019, Hassan, who is a Syrian army defector, sought to legalize his status and renew his residence permit through the sponsorship system (Kafala). He also paid 900,000 LP ($600 at the time), but the General Security seized his documents, and instead gave him a deportation form, claiming he entered Lebanon illegally. Hassan so far could not recover his documents.

Hassan got married and had his first son while still attempting to retrieve his confiscated documents. He was asked to pay 400,000 LP ($265) in exchange for his documents, and the General Security told him he must leave Lebanon once he is delivered the documents back.    

Hassan hopes to go to Erbil, in Iraq, but he fears the consequences of the journey. He might be “denied entry.” Such growing concerns are making the thought of travelling abroad a difficult thing, let alone making the decision.

“Neither my marriage, nor my son’s birth, are registered. My wife also entered Lebanon illegally. I dare not move around in Lebanon; I am scared the authorities might deport me to Syria for being an army defector,” he says. Hassan contacted organizations concerned with Syrian refugees’ affairs, including the Norwegian Council, but all his efforts were to no use. He even had an appointment with the protection department at the UNHCR, which was ultimately postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak. 

450 Cases of Confiscated Documents

The refugees’ failure to obtain official documents is a major barrier to accessing basic and simple services, and may even hamper their daily activities. Among many others, there are as many as three distinct reasons for the unlawful confiscation of civil documents; some people’s documents are seized during arrest; others’ documents are withheld either during the renewal of these documents; or at hospitals, when refugees cannot afford to pay the cost of their patients’ treatment.

When Syrian refugees’ official documents are confiscated in Lebanon; they tend to suffer these consequences:

Arrested

Denied freedom of movement  

Dined travelling abroad

Denied the registration of vital events, such as marriages, divorces, or births

Denied seeking job opportunities

Denied university education

Denied receiving remittances

Denied obtaining internet services, or a sim card 

The Lebanese authorities embarked on two arrest drives in Arsal camps, in September 2014. They arrested a total of 450 Syrian refugees, over two stages and on the pretext of “terrorism”. All the detainees were subsequently, however, gradually, released, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).

Among those arrested were the brothers Maher and Muhannad, who lived in the Baalbek area. In detention, Maher claimed being subjected to beating and torture.  As a result, he developed spinal disk problems, and could no longer work. After Maher and Muhannad were finally vindicated, the military seized their identity documents and released them. “The army told us to refer to the Arsal Municipality to retrieve our documents.  We went there only two days later, but the municipality denied having the documents,” Maher says.

For months, the two brothers sought the municipality, and they achieved nothing every time. In the end, one employee told them: “You better forget about those IDs,” indicating that they might have been lost somewhere between the military, the General Security, and the municipality.  Maher communicated with several concerned organizations, including the UNHCR. He had an appointment arranged with the latter, which was to offer him assistance because his health deteriorated severely, and he could not work. This attempt failed too, given the pandemic’s spread.

The confiscation occurred in 2014. Since then, Maher got married and had children, but was unable to register his marriage, or add his children to the civil records. Concerned organizations intervened, but still failed to help Maher do the registration, since he needed additional documents from Syria.  He could not obtain the requested documents because there was no way he could return to Syria, while a checkpoint of the Lebanese military stood between him and the Syrian Embassy in Beirut. The said checkpoint was set up at the entrance to the Syrian embassy’s area, and it frequently harassed the refugees approaching it.

The two brothers stressed that it was the seizure of their identity documents that they could not obtain passports; or refer to the UNHCR; or even seek job opportunities.  Without identity documents, they cannot navigate the streets policed by security checkpoints.

In a written response to the investigation team, the UNHCR said that “it supports the General Directorate of General Security (GDGS), providing it with equipment, software, and centers’ renovation to increase the directorate’s capacity to process Syrian refugees’ residence renewal requests. It similarly supplies the offices of the Personal Status Directorate (PSD), across Lebanon, with equipment and personnel to help the GDGS accommodate further requests of civil registration filed by refugees.”

The UNHCR added that, through its partners, it provides legal aid, including counseling and representation, and organizes awareness seminars and campaigns to enhance refugees’ knowledge on how to obtain legal residence permits, and civil documents to certify births; marriages; divorces; and deaths that occurred in Lebanon, and access procedures related to family affairs; domestic violence; civil or administrative disputes. Moreover, the UNHCR supports refugees as it conducts birth registrations on their behalf, at the foreigners departments of the PSD, while it also accompanies groups of refugees to the GSO to renew their residence permits.

Also with partners, it presents refugees individual legal advice on registering births, marriages, and deaths, and offers immediate assistance to families to register their children at the PSD and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In some particular cases, it even helps refugees obtain documents from the Sharia Courts, which confirm the children’s family lineage. The assistance it often offers includes obtaining retroactive evidence of marriages for those who have married informally earlier on, in addition to documenting marriages, and deaths.

“Voluntary” Return to Syria

The issue in question is not the withdrawal of documents, but it is rather deliberately keeping those documents in the authorities’ custody for extensive periods, for years at times, particularly if a security report is filed against Syrian refugees.  In these cases, the General Security considers these people to be opponents, who want to travel abroad, and recount what they have been through in Lebanon.  This is a security coordination process between the Lebanese authorities and the Syrian regime seeking to impede the lives of these refugees; make them miserable; and ultimately force them, in an indirect manner, to return to Syria, under the so-called “voluntary return,” the Lebanese lawyer Nabil al-Halbi says.

The express purpose of confiscating documents is to impose restrictions on Syrian refugees in Lebanon, according to lawyer al-Halabi. “Four years ago, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry made a statement, demonstrating how the Lebanese authorities are preventing Syrian refugees from traveling to Norway after they had been offered the opportunity to resettle in a third country.  Similar restrictive measures were applied to other refugees who were not allowed to travel to Canada or other countries.”

Violations of the Law

Even though the Lebanese local laws lack legal texts that regulate the confiscation of official documents belonging to persons residing within the country’s boundaries, the Lebanese authorities should comply with their human rights obligations, which are grounded in equally important international conventions and treaties, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  In the latter two conventions, several articles protect people’s right to freedom of movement and legal status, regardless of their place of residence; or the reasons that led them to leave their country of origin in the first place.

Furthermore, the nine core international human rights instruments grant people the right to nationality, as a non-derogable right, which cannot be abolished or suspended by the government, not even during emergency situations. Stressing this right, Article 6 and article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights respectively state that “everyone shall have the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.”

Individuals acquire legal recognition, when vital events are registered at the concerned departments, such as births; deaths; marriages; and divorces. This is a fundamental human right, through which individuals gain access to nationality, or legal residency, and the corresponding rights, privileges and responsibilities as citizens in a given country. Based on this, the confiscation of civil documents is a violation of these rights, because these proceedings prevent people from conducting necessary civil status registrations, and deny them access to humanitarian aid and basic services, including education; healthcare; and opening a bank account.  Worse yet, these confiscations increase the risk of statelessness.   

The seizure of documents also affects individuals’ right to unrestricted mobility, recognized by Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whereby “everyone has the right to freedom of movement; to leave any country, including his own; and to return to his country,” and the first clause of Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, by which “everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence.”

UNHCR’s Role

Of the 41 cases of document confiscations recorded by Access Center for Human Rights, 37 people are officially registered with the UNHCR, which failed to intervene, according to the refugees interviewed by the investigation team. This lack of action on the part of the High Commissioner is at odds with its obligations towards registered refugees, since registration entails protection.

 “The situation spirals when the Syrian refugees subjected to documents seizure are not registered with the UNHCR.  If so, the organization’s Protection Office cannot intervene and is not granted the UNHCR’s authorization to react, even when human rights organizations transfer refugee cases to the UNHCR,” lawyer al-Halabi said.

Al-Halabi urges the international community, and the UNHCR, to address the confiscation of documents, including the cases of refugees who are not registered with the High Commissioner. The UNHCR must act on the situation, and follow up on the matter with the Lebanese authorities, since these seizures have an impact on all rights, including the implied rights to freedom of movement, and work, particularly because the documents are often withheld for an indefinite period of time. “Should the confiscations the Lebanese security agencies embark on be considered legal entitlements, the confiscation’s duration must at least be clearly defined,” the lawyer said, or otherwise, the confiscation will be an “abuse of this entitlement.”  

What the UNHCR can do is to set up a protocol with the Lebanese General Security to process the files of persons whose documents are seized, while they do not have security-related issues. People in this group can at least be granted a six-month residence permit, till their situation is resolved, Muhammad Araji said, a Lebanese lawyer and the CEO of Access Center for Human Rights.

“We live in different areas, my son and I. We cannot visit each other for fear of leaving home. I have not seen him in five months,” Amina added.

The UNHCR, Araji said, must conduct a field survey to identify the number of Syrians who hold a residence permit, and those who have an illegal status, to tackle both groups’ problems in cooperation with the General Security.

In early 2020, the UNHCR reported as its propriety, “ensuring access to protection, temporary legal stay and birth and civil status documentation for refugees, and their protection from refoulement.”

As mentioned above, the investigation team requested the UNHCR’s comment with respect to the confiscation of documents; the steps it takes to address this violation; the measures it adopts to ensure that persons whose documents are seized are capable of conducting civil status documentations, and have proper access to hospitals, and the campaigns it launches with the Lebanese government to make certain that international laws are applied.

The UNHCR said, “should refugees report similar practices, the legal programs, for instance, the UNHCR will intercede with the Lebanese authorities. Responding to the High Commissioner’s unremitting advocacy efforts, the General Security issued an internal memo, demanding that all its affiliated centers refrain from taking originals of documents, such as identity documents; passports; civil extracts; and entry and exit visas, from Syrians renewing their residence permits. Instead, those centers are to ask for scanned colour copies of the original documents. The memo, thus, ensures that no documents will remain in the hold of the General Security, even when renewal requests are denied, while offering a solid legal ground for intervention should the confiscation violations continue to occur.”

The UNHCR said that it engages in continuous dialogue with the Public Security Directorate, on the central and local levels, to address any inconsistent practices and ensure they are all in harmony.

Concerning its measures, the UNHCR said that, “when documents are seized by individuals, say landlords, employers, etc., or private entities, including hospitals, the High Commissioner intervenes directly, or through legal partners. It plays the intermediary to ensure the documents are returned. In the cases where intermediary proves insufficient, other legal measures are adopted. A warrant is sent, for example, or the case is transferred to a higher authority, such as the Ministry of Public Health, if the perpetrator is a hospital.”

Should it happen that documents are confiscated or held by the authorities, UNHCR assists refugees to retrieve their documents, either by following the established administrative processes, for example, those adopted by the GSO, or through advocacy at the regional or central level, addressing the concerned authorities.

Lacking identity documents poses a challenge to refugees’ access to basic and simple services, and might disrupt their daily routine.

Regarding the education of children whose family documents were withheld, the UNHCR said that children without identity documents can register in schools, provided they have a proof of residence from the mukhtar, or a registration certificate issued by the High Commissioner.

Supported by the international community, other UN agencies, and the civil society, the UNHCR said it sustains communication with the Lebanese authorities to guarantee that Lebanon adheres to its local and international legal obligations.

The investigation team sent the General Directorate of Lebanese Security an email through its official address, copying the human rights directorate and organizations, as well as the immigration directorate, but the emailed entities did not respond. The email inquired into the General Security’s reasons for confiscating the Syrian refugees’ official documents; the requirements refugees must follow to recover these documents; whether the General Security facilitates document reclamation for refugees wishing to travel abroad, or provides them with alternative documents that grant them access to hospitals; or helps them register vital civil events, such as births; marriages; and divorces.

Meanwhile, Amina still waits anxiously to retrieve her documents and meet her son, who has been living away from her for years. Hassan, for his part, hopes to reclaim his documents to register his marriage and add his son to the civil records, so he would obtain an identity document, and never have to live on the margins of life like his parents.

This investigation is hosted by the Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ), and Accesses Center for Human Rights, while funded by Free Press Unlimited (FPU), and published in Daraj Media.

Contributors to investigation and data collection are Marielle Hayek, a human rights researcher, and Eid Al-khoder, a human rights activist. 

The post Syrian Refugees in Lebanon: Confiscation of Identity Documents, and Denial of Rights appeared first on SIRAJ.

Using the trick successfully, Aiysha convinced her son (5) to keep the preventative rules. Nonetheless, the trick failed to mitigate the negative impact the measures addressing the virus, the ensuing lockdown and curfew, had on his life. Hussain’s personality was a lot different. He was psychologically shaken, turned irritable, and demanding. With a restless sleep, Hussain was less active at home and withdraw into his world on the second month of the lockdown.

Aiysha’s trick proved a successes at her home, but it failed to help Abu Rida, who lives with his sex children at a three square meter tent, surrounded by jammed tents at every side. The forty-something man heard that COVID-19 has arrived in Northern Syria; however, he could do nothing to protect his family.

1/3 of Syria’s children were deprived of education due to war; a larger proportion has been even denied necessary healthcare services.

UNICEF

In Syria, COVID-19 cases started to surge, while real case numbers were kept a secret amidst poor protective and preventative measures, as well as treatment efforts. Thus ominous, the situation threatens Syrians with a scenario that might bear a striking resemblance to the one suffered by Italy.

With its symptoms, the many people it rendered dead, the following closure of schools, curfews and bans on leaving home, COVID-19 had affected children in ways of dire consequences, which psychologists believe might be of a long-term.

Medically speaking, international studies concluded that infected children might show COVID-19 symptoms, including fever and high temperature. Even though children are less vulnerable to testing positive, Syria is currently witnessing large outbreaks. To date, there are no clear estimates of the pandemic’s spread, nor reports of child infections throughout the country, which might be attributed to the fragility of the healthcare system and shortage for diagnostic tests and laboratory equipment, which absence plays a key role in the underdiagnosis of cases.

Furthermore, interviews conducted with families throughout Syria point out the wide lifestyle gap between children from various geographical backgrounds. Children in the capital Damascus, for instance, have a different life from their peers in Northern Syria’s camps, where they are subjected to unmatching economic and social conditions, as well as different housing and living modes, let alone the environment-related discrepancies.

Given the current situation, psychologists are actually urging parents to maintain their calm and low stress levels, for children do mimic their actions.

2.6 million children have been forcibly displaced. About two million children are out of school. 3 out of 10 schools in Syria are destroyed or unusable.

– Human Rights Watch, 13 March 2020

 

“We know the poorest, most marginalised children who were already the furthest behind have suffered the greatest loss, with no access to distance learning – or any kind of education – for half an academic year,” Save The Children chief executive Inger Ashing said.

On the whole, this applies to all children around the world, but it, particularly, does not pertain to Syrian children, whose living conditions are largely different from children in other countries, as they have been doomed to lose a lot during the conflict.

According to a UNICEF report, one-third of Syria’s children were deprived of education due to war; a larger proportion has been even denied necessary healthcare services.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights, on its turn, documented the death of 29,296 children at the hands of main actors in Syria between March 2011 and last June.

Moreover, in a report entitled “They have erased the dreams of my children,” the Commission of Inquiry for Syria outlined multiple blatant right violations children have been subjected to, including death, miming, injury, orphaning, deprivation of education, and enduring the myriad violations by warring parties, as well as the displacement of over five million children, internally and abroad, over the course of the war.

The report, including interviews with more than five thousand children, witnesses, relatives of survivors and medical staffers conducted between 2011 and October 2019, states that “pro-Government forces have also deployed cluster munitions, thermobaric bombs and chemical weapons, claiming dozens of children casualties.”

Rape and sexual violence have been also used against men, women, boys and girls as a tool to punish, humiliate and instil fear among affected communities. On top of this bitter reality, which Syrian children are coerced to endure, here comes COVID-19 to rub salt in their wounds.

It is necessary to block rumours and inform children only of facts available on the Internet and social networking sites, to help them resist stress, particularly with the criticism aimed at governments that announce the daily number of cases, a thing that boosts anxiety and tension.

 “On top of displacement,” here comes COVID-19

Ibrahim (13) was displaced a few months ago from the city of Saraqib, rural Idlib. Fleeing the shelling and the battles, he sought refuge in a small village east of Idlib. As if it was not enough that he lost his home, school and friends, cases of COVID-19 started emerging, destining him for heavier losses. Once again, Ibrahim was deprived of school and playing football, among many other things.

“As the coronavirus hit Idlib, my son’s life changed drastically. He was not allowed leaving home, going to school or the park, and playing with his friends,” Hussain’s father Jihad al-Ibrahim said, adding that it was displacement first, and then came the virus. Both have changed the child’s lifestyle.

Before COVID-19, his son went to school, had fun with friends and moved around freely. All of a sudden, everything stopped.

Of the most critical psychological effects that Ibrahim suffered were excessive irritation, spending long hours on the Internet and video games, according to his father, who added that: “He was awake till five in the morning, playing video games and surfing the Internet and slept for most of the daytime. He also asked me to by him an up to date cellophane so he could play PUBG.”

Ibrahim said that he used to meet his friends after school every day. They would gather somewhere and then play football. Nonetheless, he cannot do this today, while also robbed of the chance to spend summer at the town of Darkoush, western rural Idlib, expressing his great desire to enjoy all these activities when COVID-19 risk disappears.

In a report published on 13 March 2020, Human Rights Watch stated that 2.6 million children have been forcibly displaced. About two million children are out of school. Three out of 10 schools in Syria are destroyed or unusable.

Furthermore, the report noted that four out of five people in Syria live below the poverty line, leading to recruitment into fighting, child labor, and child marriage.

Horrified Children

When the Coronavirus pandemic first took over the world, Jana (11), from Suwaida province, was not scared. Nevertheless, she was grabbed by fear when the first case was reported in Damascus, especially because her grandparents are old and her father works at a shoe store, forced to get into contact with countless people, which makes them vulnerable to greatest risk from COVID-19.

All that Jana knows about the disease is that its symptoms resemble the flue, causing people to lose their sense of smell. Once the lockdown was enforced, Jana started doing sports, eating healthy food that boost the immune system, and washing her hands constantly to protect herself from the disease. This information, she got from TV, for she always joined her father as he watched the news.

“When the first case was reported, I was so scared for my father. When he stayed with us at home, since all the stores were closed, I was not as afraid as before. Upon reopening, fear struck me again, because my father gets into contact with many people,” Jana said.

The virus deprived Jana of leaving home and seeing her beloved friends. Her heart ached when schools were closed, she said, because she misses her friends, who were all forced to stay home.

“Fear, anxiety, and tension initially controlled my daughter, and the virus became all she talked about,” Jana’s mother said, referring to the negative impact the lockdown had on her daughter’s psychological health. The mother, however, cooperated with the child to smooth things down, helping her to do sports at home and other similar activities.

Summarizing the most critical behavioural and psychological disorders suffered by the girl, the mother pointed out to fear, heightened tension, and anxiety, as well as obsessed mentioning of COVID-19 and an intense interest in the quality of food.

The mother also noticed that Jana’s headaches went worse because she had excessive brain electrical charges, while she stayed up at night, turned more irritable and regularly bored.

“I believe that being afraid and the quarantine were the principal reasons that her headache seizures worsened,” the mother added, concluding that anxiety and tension badly affect Jana’s illness.

29,296 children died at the hands of main actors in Syria between March 2011 and last June.

– Syrian Network for Human Rights

Assessing the situation, psychiatrist Muhammad Abu Hilal said that the quarantine increased “socially unacceptable behaviours” among children to varying degrees, such as bullying those who cough, aggression, shouting, hyperactivity, sabotaging furniture, no to mention relentless complaining.

“The reason is that there are not enough child-friendly spaces in Syria. Then, there was the outbreak which complicated the situation for the children. Consequently, they became less active and further isolated from their peers at home,” he said.

The pandemic also gave rise to tension and fear of the disease, the signs of which were shown buy children, as they turned “obsessive” and confused about the appropriate manner of behaving, while many became less trusting of others.

“In general, the children’s language changed from one concerned with playing and studying, to one dominated by virus-related terms, mask and quarantine, which resulted in a new behavioural pattern among them,” the psychiatrist added.

The new pattern, the psychiatrist said, is represented by isolation and lack of social contact, the child’s loss of opportunities to learn from peers and play with them, hyperactivity, violence towards others at times, unjustified crying, mood swings, refusal to obey parents and negative feelings towards them, in addition to irregular sleep that corresponds to changing daily habits and spending long hours on cellophanes and video games.

Upward trajectory

This fear syncs to the mounting coronavirus cases that are recording an unprecedented upward trajectory across the country.

On 10 March 2020, the Syrian Ministry of Health announced the first COVID-19 positive case, confirmed as coming from abroad. The infection then started spreading, and cases ascended on the upward trajectory of the disease, both in regime-held areas and others out of its control.

Abu Firas, a Damascus-based father, has four children, the eldest is 13 and the youngest is only five months old, who turned more demanding amidst the outbreak. The more the pandemic lingered, the more the man and his wife were unable to keep up with the social and psychological condition of their children.

Umm Firas is a retired nurse; she left her job five years ago. Her husband, however, works in the healthcare industry.

The family’s life was organized, but it somehow drifted towards disorder as children stopped going to school, lacked any sense of obligation or definite activities to keep them busy.

“My children used to wake up at eight, go to school, return to do their homework, and then play with their friends. They slept at eight, having their play, computer and TV time all scheduled. Today, because these duties are absent, their life is no longer organized,” Umm Firas said.

“We tried to fill the spare time with at-home activities. Nevertheless, the Coronavirus measures have been going on for months, not a week or two. Therefore, following upon their day to day activities turned somehow tedious,” the husband added.

The eldest son, Firas, was crazy about football, and he waited impatiently for Friday to go with his friends to the stadium, taking the by way of the Sharia School where he studied before the outbreak. He almost had no spare time.

The parents attempt to provide their children with a breather. They visit their grandfather every Friday at his house in Damascus countryside. There, the place is less jammed, and the children get a safe opportunity to come into contact with people and meet relatives.

Sarah (11) is Firas’ younger sister. She was all about paper crafts, spending an hour or two everyday creating things. The girl, however, says that the hobby bored her during the quarantine, and it no longer helped her pass the time.

The family came across a volunteer teacher, who posted video lessons on Telegram, while other family members overcome the long unfilled hours by watching historical drama. “I reached the stage where I stopped keeping a track of their daily schedule. At one point, I even grew irritable. I returned home from work needing to rest and fearing that I could pass them the virus, for I get into contact with dialysis patients, while my children had a lot of energy, being at home,” Abu Firas said.

As a result, the children quarrelled increasingly, jabbed at each other and turned more irritable. The family is also concerned over the worst case scenario — a further spread of the virus with the daily rise in positive cases in Syria. Despite the increase, the family began to allow children to go outside, while maintaining tight preventive measures, for keeping them at home all the time has become impossible.

Age-based response

Psychologist Taher Laila, head of the psychosocial and social support team at the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), said that: “Children differ according to their age groups.”

“Those under the age of six can understand the anxiety surrounding them, but it is difficult for them to comprehend quarantine, the virus and its consequences,” he added, stressing that the parents’ duty, in this context, is to advise them and find simple ways to communicate ideas to them, explain the importance of social distancing, and the reason for staying home.

He pointed out that, at this age, children tend to develop feelings of guilt when they are not allowed out to play or are not hugged by their father when he is home from work. Children, thus, blame themselves, which necessitates that they get all these ideas explained.

Furthermore, he stressed the need to block rumours and inform children only of facts available on the Internet and social networking sites, to help them resist stress, particularly with the criticism aimed at governments that announce the daily number of cases, a thing that boosts anxiety and mental strain.

Dealing with children amidst the outbreak, Lila stated, demands that parents maintain low levels of concern, because children imitate their parents’ personalities, becoming stressed, as well. Parents, therefore, must keep their composure and address the pandemic with scientific preventative measures.

Moreover, Lila explained that the story was made rather complicated for children, because they need free and safe spaces to move around. With numerous families living in camps, while others are impoverished, capable of affording the costs of small houses only, due to displacement in Syria, in addition to lacking electricity, Internet and recreational activities, the space dedicated for children was subjected to restrictions with excessive energy that needs to be let out.

The unchanneled excessive energy, the psychologist added, causes children to be sad, depressed and isolated, and renders them anxious, becoming not only demanding, but also vulnerable to other symptoms such as intense anger, and stubbornness at times. This pressure, in fact, affects children’s social skills, through which they manage to integrate into society and communicate with their surroundings. These effects might, in turn, influence their social intelligence, making them shy, lacking in spirit and withdrawn.

In case of primary-school-age children, Lila stated that prolonged confinement to home might affect their linguistic skills.

The post Surrounded by Horror: COVID-19 Increasing Syrian Children’s already Multiple Losses appeared first on SIRAJ.

Abu-Mahmoud used to own 4 houses in the neighborhood, in which he lived with his sons, before three of them left Syria because of war, while Abu-Mahmoud remained there with his daughter.

The evacuation of Abu-Mahmoud’s house was executed under “Decree 66” that aimed to construct an integrated urban area. Although the decree had been passed 7 years ago, Abu-Mahmoud’s sons didn’t receive alternative housing. The decree stipulates providing “alternative housing” in 4 years from its issuance in 2012, but the property of Abu-Mahmoud’s sons was confiscated; as they were abroad and could not prove the house ownership upon evacuation.

Abou Mahmoud’s family and another 150 thousand residents in Mazzeh and Kafr Soussa are homeless until now, waiting for the “alternative housing”, while most departed families did not receive proper leases or compensation to secure a shelter during the determined period for executing the decree.

The issue became more complicated when Damascus Governorate required high prices for delivering “alternative housing” which is not yet available, while evicted families are going through difficult economic conditions, which makes it impossible for them to pay such high prices, according to this report.

Over 6 months, the report reveals that Damascus Governorate violates some clauses of “Decree 66”, most significantly is the non-commitment to the determined term set to provide residents the “alternative housing”, for high prices, in addition to the low, insufficient and late lease allowance that should have been given to evicted families to secure a residence until they can receive their alternative houses from the governorate.

An alternative housing is a house a resident receives instead of their informal one located in the area stated in the decree. Alternative housing should have been available within 4 years of the issuance of the decree, but the related paragraph in Law no. 10 has been amended to stipulate delivering the alternative housing after 4 years from evacuating the house.

Regulatory instructions for alternative housing for entitled beneficiaries were issued only in 2015 (three years after the decree was issued), in decree no. 112 issued by the Minister of Housing, which left the alternative housing entitled beneficiaries homeless during all this time.

Also the residents that were absent during evaluating the neighborhood houses have lost their entitlements and couldn’t register their houses to receive lease allowances and alternative housing. This was confirmed by Gomaa Al-Hallaq, law expert, and 3 other residents.

No Ownership Rights

“Four eviction notices (one notice for each house) were issued, Damascus Governorate has checked my family’s house in the presence of my father, and was aware the house is inhabited. When the second check was to be conducted, my father and brother were visiting Turkey, but my sister was there in the house, the check committee photographed the house, but labeled it in papers as “closed house”, meaning they didn’t acknowledge our ownership of the house” says Mahmoud, Abu Mahmoud’s elder son who lives in Turkey, describing what happened as “uprooting out of the district”.

Four Eviction Notices (exclusive)

“We notified property owners of the checking and registration processes. 8200 people have declared their entitlement. We, in cooperation with honest and just judges, have matched the entitlements with real estate’s authorities, and it resulted in registering the properties of 5500 people, while ownership could not be proven for the other 2700,” said Jamal Al-Youssef, Decree 66 former enforcer.

Verifying the non-entitlement of those people, Ghaleb Eniz, member of Damascus Governorate Council, says “Damascus Governorate, when Governor Beshr Al-Sabban was in position, instructed properties owners, who sought to register their possession, to submit a travel/ departure statement to confirm their presence in the country, in order to ban those citizens abroad from registering their properties and consequently not proving their ownership of houses inside the integrated urban area, knowing that this procedure is not stated in decree no. 112 issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, yet it was attached to Decree 66 to regulate providing the alternative housing. Therefore, around 2700 families were deprived of alternative housing; most of them were out of the state and could not submit the required statement proving their presence in the country”.

Decision 112 (exclusive)

Clause “D” of the decision states that “alternative housing beneficiary shall submit proved entitlement of their house over the period from the decree issuance date until evacuation date” but didn’t refer to people who are out of the country.

Eniz noted that some cases were registered as closed houses (not possessed), although owners were present inside Syria, but when conducting the checking process, they were not present, for any reason. When appeals were allowed, only 100 people out of two thousand objectors were registered entitled.

Jamal Al-Youssef, former enforcer of Decree 66, verifies the late conduction due to “the State’s conditions”; as work was not allowed upon issuing the decree. When it was allowed to enter Khalaf Al-Razi district in 2013, work commenced.

According to Jamal Al-Youssef, the number of alternative housing entitlements reached 5500 out of 6500 citizens who applied, indicating that 1000 citizens were deprived from the alternative housing.

“We announced receiving appeals, 550 objectors applied, and a committee was formed to discover the lack of some documents like a proof of the citizen’s presence inside the country and citizen’s compliance to army reserve admission. Out of 550 appeals, only 119 were examined after submitting the required documents that prove alternative housing entitlement” said Al-Youssef.

Alternative Housing or Expropriation?

Although more than 3 years have passed, Abu-Yasser and his 5 children, who evicted their home at Khalaf al-Razi region, on May 16, 2015, are still waiting for the alternative housing Abu-Yasser had to sell more than half his shares in the project, about 37 million Syrian liras (worth 37’000 USD) in Marsoum region, to buy a house in Reef Dimashq, because the “rent allowance” which is given to him by the Damascus governorate.

Abu-Yasser says, “I couldn’t adapt to life in the countryside, I couldn’t move my factory from Khalaf al-Razi region to the new place I live in, due to the fast eviction, which left me unemployed”.

Abu-Yasser described what happened as expropriation, as he was forced to sell more than half his shares in the project, move to Reef Dimashq and lose his source of income. He explained that Damascus governorate “cut off the power and water supply in his region, to force people to move out”.

Abu-Yasser received the first rent allowance in November 2018 (2 years after they were evicted) and the second time was 5 months later. “Had I been a tenant, I and my family would have been homeless, due to the delay of the rent allowance cheques”. His rent allowance was estimated by 652’000 liras per year (about 650 USD), while he has not yet received the third rent allowance due to the delay that happened.

Rent allowance is paid every year in the form of monthly bills of 50’000 liras each. Rents in Damascus start from 100’000 liras, according to a broker in the city.

Changing Housing Locations

Damascus governorate changed alternative housing location from the first organizational area (Maruta City) to the second, (Basilia City), according to the statement of Bilal Na’al, board member of “Damascus Holding” which participates in the project, during the ordinary session of Damascus municipality on October 11, 2019, which means residence will be moved from an economically active region to a place far from the city center.

Legal expert Jum’a Hallaq said, “The organizational plan was changed more than once, although the alternative housing buildings should be within the first area (Maruta City), according to decree no. 66, articles 19 and 20”. So the alternative housing will not be delivered until the second (Basilia City), which is not yet ready, is finished. Until now, the organizational plans have not been set, and the inhabitants of the area have not been evicted, which means delivering alternative housing units will further be delayed.

Estimation Committees Waste Owners’ Rights

Article 7 of the decree no. 66 states that committees of legal experts and real estate experts are to be formed to estimate the value of the rent allowance and the areas of the ‘prospect’ alternative housing units.

The committee consists of a judge, appointed by the Minister of Justice, who acts as the head of the committee, two real estate evaluation experts, appointed by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, in addition to two experts who represent the owners”.

But these committees failed to evaluate many properties accurately, and wasted the owners’ rights, according to the statements of some owners who think their properties were “underestimated”.

Fahd, 30 years, was one of the residents of Khalaf al-Razi, said, “The committee measured the area of his house, but changed its description, like the type of bricks and marble, thus depreciating its value. When he objected, the architect in charge said, “All is the same to us”.

Ghalib Onayz thinks that the committees that carry out the evaluation and documentation are not infallible, they have made mistakes that have not been corrected. Evaluation and description records were not published, as in case they were published citizens would be able to object to them and demand his rights.

Reporters tried to know the reason why the evaluation and description records were not published, through asking the directorate responsible for executing decree 66, which keeps the records, but a source in the directorate refused to comment.

The bigger problem was when the Damascus governorate employees registered Um-Khaled’s house in the name of another woman, who has nothing to do with the house.

Um-Khaled said, “It is my property, but I had hosted one of my friends who was displaced from Jobar and when the employee came from the governorate, his name was Mudar, he asked my friend: Who are you? She said: A guest from Jobar. Yet he took her ID and her husband’s ID, and registered their data, and later it turned out that my own house was registered in my friend’s name in front of my eyes”.

Um-Khaled filed a complaint, but to no avail, because the reassessment process needs a court order, as the responsible committee is judicial, which makes the correction difficult. She said, “I lost my house in a moment due to this injustice”.

Jamal al-Yusuf, the director of execution of decree no. 66, replied that “the committees did not commit any mistakes, and those who complained could not produce any authentic document to prove their claims,” adding that “the work is done through an automated institutional mentality”.

Incorrect evictions

The unpleasant surprise for Hala (56 years) and her family was when they got evicted from their 3 storey home on March 27, 2017.

She said that security elements summoned her and told her that they should evict their home within 15 days, although other home owners had received notice months before her without executing the eviction. She saw the eviction executed equally to all the residents of the region.

Hala had to evict her home and could not even sell all her furniture, because whe was forced to evict within 15 days without prior notice.

Six other residents of the same area narrated stories similar to Hala’s, they said evictions were not implemented correctly, and that there was violence and ill-treatment of civilians.

Legal expert Jum’a Hallaq explained that Damascus governorate totally evicted the area of Khalaf al-Razi in 2017, in a clear violation to article 40 of the decree, which states: “Damascus governorate shall be responsible for delivering the land of the divisions empty to the owners within a maximum of 90 days from the date they obtained the construction permits, as the governorate has evicted the area before issuing the permits.” This means that issuing construction permits should take place before the eviction process.

By searching the governorate’s archives, reporters discovered that the first eviction notice was issued in September 2015, while the first construction permit was issued in 2019.

Hala narrated the stories of some of the residents of the area who were evicted during the school year, which resulted in interrupting the educational process for most of the region’s children.

Within one week Fahd was evicted from his home, in Khalaf al-Razi, with his furniture, so he had to stay homeless for two months, looking for a place for his family to stay.

Fahd said, “I was living on my own property which I had built on my father’s land. It was 90 square meters, and I didn’t have to pay rent. Now I’m living in a single room in an old house in Sheikh Sa’d district, with 5 members of my family”.

However, despite this suffering, Fahd still hopes to receive alternative housing―even after a while―because his house’s area is 90 square meters, and the roofed area in his house is less than 40 square meters. Hence, he does not get a separate house in the new project, according to article no. 3 of resolution 112. And if more than one family lives in the apartment, it gets a new one with the same exact area of the old house.

The legal expert, Jomaa Al Hallaq, believes that this article prompted the public to sell their shares, to be able to carry on. Explaining that these people won’t be able to buy anything in the Decree stated area.

Alternative Housing that is Beyond its Residents’ Affordability

According to Article 45 of Decree 66, the duration set for providing alternative housing was four years after the decree was issued in 2012, which means that alternative housing is supposed to be ready by the year 2016.

But when Damascus failed to secure alternative housing during such a period, the well-known “Law No.10” stated in article no. 25 that the period of alternative housing delivery is four years from the date of home evacuation, instead of 4 years from the date of the issuance of Decree 66.

Taking into consideration the presence of owners who evacuated their homes in 2015, the amendment that was stipulated in Law No. 10 was also not complied with, as they evacuated their homes 5 years ago, and were supposed to have received their alternative apartments within 2019.

Jamal Al Youssef estimates the square meter’s price of an apartment in the alternative housing project, between 270 and 300 thousand SYP (300 USD) as a real cost for construction only, excluding the value of land, street & lighting expenses. Where payments are supposed to be made in installments over the span of 25 years, with interest rate of 10%, provided that the first installment payment should be covering 10% of the property’s value according to resolution 112.

Mr. Al Youssef considers this fair, “As those living in illegal or informal buildings, weren’t paying any fees or taxes, and the state was offering them free services, that’s why it is time for things to change.”

He believes that citizens benefited from the project, once the entitlement of the alternative housing is allocated, they can sell it and gain profits, while he urged those who cannot pay for alternative housing, to “find a way” either by making a good use of their resources and assets, or by taking loans, noting that Damascus cannot issue a law that suits everyone’s circumstances.

In economic terms, 30 million SYP―about 30,000 USD―is the price of a 100-square-meter home, in addition to 10% interest. Hence, the price becomes 33.5 million SYP. A price that those entitled to alternative housing can’t manage to afford, which Ghalib Unaiz considers a way “that opens the door in front of the major real estate traders.”

Futile Rental Allowances

Article 44, Decree 66, stipulates that those who aren’t entitled to alternative housing be granted rental compensation for two years. In addition to compensating those who are entitled to alternative housing, with an annual rent until they receive their housing, and the payment is to be made within one month from the date of notification of the evacuation notice.

Today, Hala pays a rent of 125,000 SYP for a home made up of two small rooms in Damascus, while her house rent allowance was estimated at 750,000 SYP. She said that: “This rental allowance doesn’t cover half of what I pay, especially given the high rent prices, and the difficulty of finding a house to rent due to the high demand in some regions,” the thing that forced her to sell part of her shares in the regulated area to cover her rental expenses.

On the other hand, Fahd pays 75,000 SYP per month for one room with no utilities, and his rent allowance is not enough. “However, Damascus is still late in paying rent allowances and doesn’t give us the money on its due date.” He said.

“The poor value of the rental allowance prompted the public to sell their shares in the project, and to date, the rental allowance isn’t paid on time in addition to the postponement of the date of demolition related to the payment of the rental allowance.” Jomaa Al Hallaq said.

However those who aren’t entitled to alternative housing are about 2500 families out of almost 8500. These families are granted a rental allowance for two years only from the date of evacuation while their fate remains unknown after that period.

Ghalib Unaiz, a member of Damascus Governorate Council, Ghalib Eneiz, believes it’s “Unfair to these families,” and says: “2,500 families used to be stable and live peacefully, and now they became homeless.” Moreover, he explained: “The state is obligated, under the constitution, to provide housing for its citizens.”

Um Muhammad has been living for about 50 years in Khalaf Al Razi (Old Rent), she couldn’t prove that she’s a renter because she didn’t have the old tenancy agreement which led to depriving her of alternative housing and rent allowance. Although she objected to the Decree 66 Implementation Directorate three times, she did not get any help, and the Directorate’s staff informed her that it’s all her fault and she must return to the court to object.

Despite the fact that renters, who don’t own lands and have been living in the region before the year 2000, get 30% of the residential real estate shares and 40% of the commercial real estate shares, according to article no. (44) of Decree no. (66).

Jamal Al Youssef considers the rent allowance a “state contribution” to help citizens rent a house until alternative housing is ready, and admits that there’s been a delay in paying the entitlement of the alternative housing―because of the “general situation”―adding that the governorate paid almost 8 billion SYP in compensation for the rent allowance.

Mr. Al Youssef confirms that the rent allowance is not enough, and many objections were registered against it, but the specification of the rental allowance was conducted by judicial committees and issued with a final judicial decision. It can only be amended by amending the law, the thing that requires another judicial decision.

Mr. Al Youssef expects that the alternative housing will be ready within a year and a half from now. “We cannot continue to pay rent allowances, it’s a heavy burden for us” He said.

A Stumbled Beginning for Reconstruction

Decree no. (66) and its implementation gaps represented a ‘stumbled beginning’ for the reconstruction of Syria, which became an international media sensation. And despite the passage of 8 years since the decree was issued, no actual reconstruction operation has been carried out so far. While the residents of the area mentioned in the decree have remained homeless since their evacuation.

The project consists of two regulated areas, the first “Marota City”―which means (sovereignty) in Aramaic―and the second “Basilia City”, which means (Paradise). Marota City covers an area of 2 million and 149 thousand square meters in Khalaf Al Razi region, it will include 12,000 apartments distributed among 168 towers, ranging between 11 and 22 floors each. While Basilia City covers an area of 9 million square meters on the southern ring-road between al-Qadam and Yarmouk Camp. It will include 4,000 apartments, according to the data provided by the companies participating in the implementation of the regulated area.

Both, Marota and Basilia, were presented as Syria’s first “three dimensional” smart cities with luxurious infrastructures, automated services, online traffic control, educational, cultural, entertainment and tourism centers, to attract investors to Syria and create a new “Dubai” in Damascus.

However, this luxury didn’t do Mahmoud any good when his father died due to being forced to evacuate the house, and he lost his right to its ownership. Moreover, such luxury meant nothing to hundreds of families who were displaced from their homes, without having anything to rely on but rental allowances that are not sufficient to rent a small room in Damascus. They were left waiting for an open date for their return to their new houses.

The Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ)

The post “Fake houses”: Decree 66 Breaches its Promises and Expels Syrian families appeared first on SIRAJ.

Samar, a Syrian girl from Aleppo, had no idea her marriage to a rich Saudi man in Istanbul would only last one day. This 22-year-old had been longing for a more stable life, away from the atrocities of war. Her hope vanished when she realized she was a victim of a short-term marriage, arranged by her matchmaker, or khattaba, whom she met by chance, when she shared rooms with her and other single Syrian girls in Istanbul. The matchmaker sent Samar’s picture to the Saudi man who was 35 years her senior. He accepted. The wedding ceremony was held quickly, and just as abruptly, the marriage ended.

With a sad face, Samar tells how “a sheikh and two witnesses came over, and my so-called husband gave me 2000 dollars as dowry, then took me to an apartment he rented. The very next day, I woke up to a note saying the rent was paid for, and that he left and was not coming back. The landlady told me not to worry, ‘I’ll find you another husband if you want.”

“Girls’ Residence”

The famous al-Fatih neighbourhood, in the heart of Istanbul, is a business and trade center for Syrians. This is where the girls’ stories usually begin. Around here, they can find special rentals, known as “Girls’ Residence,” where the landlady often turns out to be a professional matchmaker. Most roommates are refugees, some entered Turkey illegally, others are struggling with some kind of social problem or other. There are divorcées, widows, as well as minors who came from Syria unaccompanied.

Their difficult financial situation makes these Syrian refugee girls vulnerable to exploitation by matchmakers and brokers who see in them a mere money-making opportunity, and who resort to swindling and theft to take advantage of them. 

Fatima Abdul-Aziz is the head of “Al-Kawakiby Women’s Organization in Mersin, Turkey,” which is concerned with Syrian refugee women’s affairs. She believes that “what most contributes to this phenomenon are the dissociation of family and social ties, poverty, and the seduction of what is often presented to these girls as a more comfortable and secure life.” 

On July 11, I was able to get a copy of an arrest warrant in the northwestern city of  Sakarya, issued against a Syrian female matchmaker, charged with facilitating prostitution, deception and fraud. A dispute between two men, one Saudi, the other Syrian, led to her arrest. In her deposition, the matchmaker admits to fraud, as she took money to arrange marriages, but denied prostitution charges.  

Numbers

According to a survey by the Directorate General of Migration Management, a subdivision of the Turkish Ministry of Interior, of the 4 million Syrian refugees in the country, around 1.4 million are female. 

United Nations puts at 1.2 million the number of Syrians working without a permit in Turkey. The majority accept much lower wages and more severe conditions than Turkish workers would.

Evrensel website published a study that found “most Syrians are living below the poverty line and working without social security. 50% are unemployment, and 13% have applied for financial aid.” The study was conducted by the Center for Social Policies, and took place in the provinces that host the largest numbers of Syrian refugees. 

While both official and NGO statistics on fraudulent marriages are lacking, and judging from the cases reviewed by the center, Abdul-Aziz asserts that “matchmaker” has become a pseudonym for a type of broker who provides Syrian refugee wives for Arab men in return for a commission, well aware that such marriages would not last long: “Lately, we have been receiving many legal inquiries into fraud, committed in the name of marrying Syrian refugees,” she adds.

Secrecy and Fear

Majd Tabba’, a lawyer who has examined several such cases in Turkey, thinks that the dearth of data is due to the fact that “victims of these widespread marriages tend to keep them a secret, for fear of social stigma and family rejection.”

A One-day Marriage

It was indeed difficult to meet women who fell victim to the matchmakers’ network. Many keep a low profile and refuse to talk about this sensitive topic. Those who did talk requested their names be withheld to protect their privacy. 

Samar, who came to Turkey two years ago, recalls that she was first introduced to Um-Rihab as the lady who offers free accommodation for Syrian female refugees, “just for the love of God,” as the landlady often told the girls who lived under her roof. “In the beginning, things seemed normal and Um-Rihab treated us well,” says Samar, “but then she collected our photos and copies of our documents, and claimed she was seeking funding from ‘charitable people’. Next, she began insinuating that I have a suitor, a rich man who would give me all I wanted. When I first refused, her attitude changed and she began to treat me badly. In the end, I had to accept.” 

How Does a “Marriage by Picture” Work?

The deal takes place on the matchmaker’s social media account, where she provides her name and phone number. The following steps are followed via texts or calls:

First step: the matchmaker asks the male postulant to choose a category, “single, divorced, or widowed.”

Second step: money is discussed.

Third step: The girls’ pictures are sent through Whatsapp, then erased immediately.

Fourth step: if an agreement is reached, a wedding date is set.

Marriage on Vacation

I sat down with Rihab, a 20-year-old who got married to a Saudi national, who then divorced her by phone. She realized the groom only wanted her for the duration of his holiday. She had fallen victim to a so-called “misyar marriage.” According to Islam Web, misyar is a type of marriage contract where the husband and wife are able to renounce some marital rights such as living together, the wife’s rights to housing and maintenance money and the husband’s right to homekeeping and access, the later usually relinquished in order to keep the marriage secret from his first wife and children. Unlike the marriage of mut’ah (pleasure,) misyar  has no time limit. If it does, the contract is actually considered null. 

In Asenuret neighborhood in Istanbul, Rihab says her matchmaker had asked her to keep the union a secret. “I wanted to get married and leave the girls’ residence. He stayed with me for only one week. We kept in touch for another month, after which he asked me to hand over the apartment to the landlord. He had only rented it for one month. Then he divorced me on the phone, said I was now free, and he had fulfilled all his financial obligations.” But Rihab did not receive any dowry, and the jewelry he gifted her turned out to be fake and worthless. She called the matchmaker to inquire: “Um-Hussein said she did not owe me anything, and the only thing she could do is find me another husband, also in secrecy. It was then obvious that the lady was marrying off girls and pocketing their dowry in addition to her fees. After that, she again offers them free residence, on the condition that they undergo hymen reconstruction surgery, so that she offers them up for marriage again as virgins. I refused to do that.” 

When I contacted Um-Rihab,  the matchmaker, she denied the whole story, and insisted on knowing the name of the girl in question, which of course, I could not reveal, to protect Rihab.  

A Journey In Search of a “Bride”

It does not take advanced research skills to get in touch with a matchmaker. Do a google search and you will find a large number of them operating on social media platforms where they post statistics of the promised  brides, including their age, height, weight, hair and eye color.

To know more about the nature of their job, I contacted Um-Qusai, another matchmaker in Istanbul, on WhatsApp, and posed as a postulant who is looking for a Syrian girl to marry. Um-Qusai gave me her offers in detail: “A virgin would cost you between $7,000 and $10,000, in addition to the jewelry, which would be part of “personal clothing.” Divorcées and widows range from $3,000 to $6,000.” What about her fees, I asked? “Brother,” she said, “I charge $1000. If that is okay with you, then I’ll immediately send you some pictures of what I have.” 

She sent me pictures of many girls, insisted the union ceremony be officiated by an imam or sheikh, not in court. Dowry and commission are to be paid ahead of the wedding. 

Ali has a friend in the Gulf who was seeking a wife and ended up falling for the matchmakers’ scheme. Ali was there and has seen it all: “Their network is not centralized. After the groom agrees to their terms and conditions, all those who helped him get married disappear on wedding night. They disconnect cell phones and abandon their apartments without leaving a trace.” 

A man hailing from a Gulf state is considered a catch. I perused many Whatsapp messages sent to Saudi men advertising Syrian girls in Turkey who “want to get married. All you need do is transfer money to the bride you choose to help her get ready. Then come and consummate the marriage in Turkey.” 

For years, Saudi authorities have been aware of this scheme. In 2016, the Saudi embassy in Istanbul issued a warning for its nationals to beware “suspects using fake documents and Syrian IDs in the Turkish cities near the Syrian border, who have been luring in marriage-seeking citizens, through ads on social media platforms. The citizens then come to Turkey only to realize they have been victims of swindling and fraud.” 

Defrauding Arabs and Turks

Sherif (30), an Egyptian citizen living in Istanbul, also has a similar story. The girl he was offered to marry turned out to be already married, so he lost both the mahr and other expenses, totalling $10,000. The “wife” escaped the next morning, after stealing his belongings. She took the marriage contract with her, as well. Sherif had no means to prove he was robbed. There was no evidence of fraud, because he neither knew the witnesses nor the sheikh who wrote the contract. The only thing remaining is the Whatsapp messages, but the number no longer exists, and it was never officially registered.  

These criminal rings  do not spare Turkish citizens either. Last month, Turkish media platforms were buzzing with the news of the arrest of a “Syrian gang ” in Kayseri Province, after security forces received a complaint that they “defrauded a 51-year-old Turkish man of 40,000 liras to marry a 20-year-old Syrian girl, who took the money and disappeared.” The ring consisted of the girl, her 41-year-old father, and her 29-year-old aunt. Interrogated in Hatay Province in the south, they confessed they had “committed the same scheme in 5 other Turkish cities, and earned more than 2 million liras”.

• Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code states the following:

1- Fraud is punishable by up to three years in prison. 

2- Foreign claimants must deposit 10% of the amount mentioned in the case. 

Source: The attorney, Majd Al-Tabba’

Girls in the Network

Deceit runs in both directions. There are internet matchmaking gangs who specifically prey on young Syrian men. The brides-to-be are gang members themselves. 

Searching for his dream girl, Muhammad (28) from Deir ez-Zur, ended up losing $8,000 to a gang. That money was all he had. “Suddenly everything was gone,” he says. 

It all started last year when Mohammad asked a matchmaker to find him a bride in return for a commission. When the bride was ready, Mohammad went to meet her. She was with her brother, matchmaker himself, and a local sheikh who came to wed the pair. After the wedding, the bride asked him to take her to an outdoor restaurant. 15 minutes into dinner, she went to the restrooms and that was the last time he saw her. She disappeared and her cell phone number was immediately disconnected.  

Forged Documents & Other Creative Methods

The matchmakers’ stratagems vary from one case to another. Some, for example, especially defraud old Arab men living in Istanbul, as Majd al-Tabba’ points out: “These are not simple fraud cases. These are organized mafia rings consisting of men and women with forged documents and fake IDs. And they change their plans according to the targeted victim.” Al-Tabba’ took up a case where a matchmaker, Um-Mohammad, conned $20, 000 out of a 54-year-old Saudi man, via a Facebook ad offering him a chance to have a second wife: “All the documents we checked, passports, IDs and lease contracts, were fake, and cell phone numbers were unregistered, which left the case pending the identification of the perpetrators.” 

Solutions

According to Fatima Abdul-Aziz, in order to curb this phenomenon “refugees should form communities in their asylum countries, to get to know each other and communicate. It is also important to hold awareness-raising seminars to educate women about their marriage and divorce rights, in order to prevent them from being exploited.” 

In the meanwhile, Samar and Rihab are working in a tailor shop. Marriage is now the last item on their priority lists. They doubt they will ever get married again. And al-Tabba’s 54-year-old client is still awaiting the Turkish court’s decision on his case. 

Published on DARAJ.

The Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ)

The post Marriage by Picture: Matchmakers Preying on Syrian Refugee Girls in Turkey appeared first on SIRAJ.

Many are aware of the fact that, inside Syria’s displaced persons’ camps, women are constantly subjected to sexual extortion. More obscure is what happens to their peers at the capital’s so-called shelters and those of the surrounding rural areas. Here, the identity of the perpetrator may vary, but the women’s lot of suffering and exploitation is just as gruesome. Whether in camps or government shelters, the “sex in return for food” deal is the order of the day.

Since 2012, 20 year-old Reem has been living with her family at the Kafr Sousa shelter in Damascus. For three consecutive months, she had been sexually assaulted by the shelter’s supervisor. Fearing defamation, she did not dare to whisper a word about it.

I met Reem outside her residence back in October of 2017. Terrified, she requested anonymity, both for the sake of her family’s safety and her own.

It had all started the year before when, one day, Reem’s mother sent her to collect the food ration. The family had been living off of this aid since they first moved into the shelter from rural Damascus.  That day, the supervisor in charge of distribution forced the young girl to have sex with him in exchange for her family’s share. The abuse continued for a while. When Reem finally asked her assaulter to stop, he threatened to throw her family out, and tell everyone about what happened between them.

“I was so scared.  I dreaded what would become of me and my family. I kept my mouth shut to protect us. He continued to assault me until he found another, younger girl. Only then did he let go of me,” Reem said.

Reem’s is only one of innumerable stories of Syrian women who have been subjugated to sexual exploitation, physical and verbal harassment, as well as leering, in temporary accommodation centers (shelters for the displaced) in Damascus and its surrounding rural areas. Women are coerced to have sex with shelters’ supervisors and officials in return for humanitarian aid. They are pressured to keep quiet, out of fear of being thrown out, defamed, and their aid cut off. They even risk being arrested, should it ever be discovered that they spoke up.

Women’s ordeal is aggravated by the shelters’ strict regulations.  They are not allowed to leave, even for a few hours, unless they submit an official request, the approval of which hangs on the management’s whim.  This prevents women from finding a job to insure a decent life, escape sexual oppression and the abominable conditions inside the shelters, as I have been told by five such women we met.

During my successive visits to several shelters in Damascus and its rural areas, I have interviewed eight women who have been forced by male managers and supervisors to yield sexual concessions.  Throughout this investigation, I have also met with thirty-five male and female volunteers at the shelters, who unanimously corroborated the systematic scale on which sexual extortion is practiced in exchange for food for displaced women.

But it was impossible to confront the officers in charge of the shelters with such revelations. That would put the victims’ very lives at risk, as well as compromise my own safety.

A report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), titled “Voices from Syria 2018”, upholds that humanitarian aid is being exchanged for sex in many regions in Syria.

The detailed document reveals that “women and young girls inside these shelters are being sexually harassed and exploited by those in positions of authority in return for housing and aid. The most vulnerable are those “without male protectors”: widows, divorcees, and the displaced.”

According to another study commissioned in 2014 by UNHCR, one in every three Syrian women never left her house, or only did so in cases of extreme necessity, for fear of harassment and insecurity.

In yet another study, conducted by UNFPA, in cooperation with the Syrian Ministry of Social Affairs, titled “Situation of Women in Temporary Accommodation Centers in Damascus”, it is shown that 3.5% of women have been sexually exploited after coming to these shelters, including being subjected to leering, and verbal and physical harassment.

The night of the rape

On the morning of January 24th, upon a visit to a shelter hosting over 500 displaced families, I sat with a group of women who told me about the sexual concessions they have to make in order to receive their share of the aid. None of them dared to go into specifics. But perhaps Um Saad, a strong woman in her 40s, speaks for all about the extent of the tragedy when she asks “Who will save us from retaliation if we speak up? And who will defend our rights?”

Hanan, a 30-year old widow and a mother of two, has been living in a shelter in Al-Duweir, ever since the death of her husband compelled her to leave Mayda’a in September of 2014.

I met Hanan outside the shelter on 28 March. She had gotten the permission to leave for a few hours, under the pretext of taking her child to a doctor in Damascus.

Back in 2016, when she went to pick up her food portion, the distributor gave her only a fraction of it and asked her to come back at night for the rest. When she returned that evening, he raped her.

She says that what happened to her is absolutely indescribable: “I could not yell at him. He approached me and began to touch my body. My tongue was tied. I tried to push him away, but he persisted.”

Hanan came out of his room not daring to tell anyone about what happened. For weeks on end, she continued to be raped without any means to escape. For there was no alternative shelter.

Getting advantage of women in need

What emboldens the offenders the most is the absence of the family’s male breadwinner coupled with the women’s lack of any skills that would qualify them for a job and a decent life, leaving them with no other safety net than the basket of humanitarian aid.

35 year-old Huda left the shelter after she could not take the manager’s sexual assaults anymore. I met her shortly thereafter at her house, on 23 July, 2017.

Huda took refuge with her two children in a shelter located in the upscale district of Kafr Sousa in Damascus, after her husband’s death drove her to flee Ein Tarma in Eastern Ghouta, in 2013.

In 2015, the officer in charge of distribution began making advances on Huda. When the latter did not reciprocate, he tried again, offering to give her and her children everything they needed in return for one night with her. Upon her rejection, he retaliated by withholding her food ration for more than three months.

Try as she might to survive, borrowing money and food from neighbours, she could not make ends meet. Faced with two hungry children, she ended up accepting the offer.

In August of 2016, her 9-year old son was diagnosed with diabetes, “God’s punishment for what I have done,” Huda thought. She decided to stop seeing the officer, left the shelter in October, and rented a room in Jaramana. She has since been earning her living working in a sweatshop, and selling homemade food supplies. She was never able to forget the painful details of her ordeal inside the shelter.

Now the head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Damascus University and the former head of the Syrian Forensic Medicine Authority Hussein Nofal, had declared in June of 2017 that violence against women and children has dramatically increased during the ongoing crisis. The chief reasons behind the upsurge being displacement and rising poverty levels which have forced many families to share housing with strangers or rent small rooms.

Anas has volunteered in three different centers after he ran away from Al Yarmouk Refugee Camp in 2013. He says sexual harassment is raging inside the shelters. He himself has witnessed women being pressured into having sex. Once he saw a woman knocking on the manager’s door in the middle of the night, a price she had to pay in exchange for a blanket, or an extra bottle of baby milk.

Fear of defamation

“I don’t want to ruin my own life,” said one woman I interviewed in September of 2017. She was sexually abused at a shelter in Al Tal city, north of Damascus, a couple months before.

Her words account for the obstacles I faced during the present investigation. They also elucidate why women refrain from denouncing their aggressors by filing complaints. Victims dread defamation. They are petrified of being hurt, arrested, or even excommunicated. Society here blames the victim. Even the woman’s family themselves would shun her.

Thanaa, a woman in her thirties who escaped Meda’a to a shelter, says: “I didn’t dare to tell anyone about what happened to me. I was so scared. He used me repeatedely for sex. I care for my children. I am scared of him. He manages the shelter. He can kick us out anytime. We don’t have any other place to run to. Not to mention that he’s capable of writing a spiteful report against me and have the police land me in prison.”

Victims’ stories vary. So do the facets of their suffering. But one element is common to all: fear.

Wedad, 35 years old, is a volunteer with the Syrian Red Crescent. In 2015 and 2016, she worked at a shelter in Rural Damascus. With her own eyes, she witnessed four women, between the ages of 20 and 40, being sexually exploited by the shelter’s supervisor.

The victims’ silence is the greatest hurdle to Wedad’s work. “I totally understand their fear, she says. They’re weak and vulnerable, especially the ones who have had their husbands killed, arrested or kidnapped. Those women are powerless, with no one to protect them. Their aggressors have power and privilege. Their links with the authorities scare the victims into remaining silent.”

“Who will save us from retaliation if we speak up? And who will defend our rights?”

A center for exploitation

Sociologist Aliaa Ahmed calls these shelters “centers for sexual exploitation of women.” What pains Ahmed the most is the way in which the victims seek to cover up the crime, in order to avoid being blamed. Society’s attitude toward rape victims is to condemn the victims themselves: “if she had behaved decently, none of this would have happened to her.”

Ahmed points out that “it is a common belief that in the absence of a law that protects women’s safety, only their men can fulfill that function. Some women live alone with their children in shelters, which makes them an easy target for perpetrators.”

She explains that “assailants do not stop at anything to coerce women into sex, using force against those who refuse to submit to their repugnant desires. They know that if a woman decided to denounce them, she would be inviting the worst consequences upon herself, and herself alone.  Noting that poor, displaced women in general is the group that is most vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Women coming from areas controlled by opposition fighters are at an even greater risk. Against the latter,  “political reasons” and “security concerns,” are threatening tools for sexual extortion.  “Terrorism” charges are always ready to be doled out to them. They are totally helpless.”

And she adds: “In such circumstances, many women find themselves obliged to submit to their assaulter and remain silent, or else escape and start a journey of endless torment, where they will have to face innumerable risks in search of alternatives that are equally bad.”

Silencing the voices

I contacted Kafr Sousa Police Department to inquire about the number of complaints filed by sexually exploited women. An officer who has served at the department between 2014 and 2015, proclaimed that they have received no more than five complaints from women living in shelters, all concerning “problems” with the shelters’ supervisors.

He added that whenever the police called on the shelter to see these women and issue a proper citation, the supervisor would immediately take the patrol chief aside, and persuade him to drop the issue, belittling it as mere “women trouble.” The case would end here. No further proceedings, no official investigation. Nothing is even documented, thus depriving the abused of her right to file a formal complaint and pursue her case in court.

The policeman observed signs of abuse visible on women who come to file complaints: a messed up hijab here, torn and dirty clothes there, tears, and refusal to tell what happened.

His daily chats with colleagues at the police station leave no doubt that shelters’ supervisors have clout and are more powerful than chief patrols. He and his colleagues have heard numerous stories about women being subjected to sexual abuse as a price for the food aid, the distribution of which is personally controlled by supervisors.

On the other hand, four women from an Adra al- ‘Amaliyah shelter North of the capital filed a complaint against the supervisor who forced them to have sex with him and threatened to expulse them if they refuse, according to volunteers who have witnessed the complaint.

The governorate of Damascus and the Supreme Committee for Relief investigated the issue with residents at the center. But then, the case was closed, as if nothing had happened. The supervisor remained in his position. It was later discovered that the grievants were expelled from the center.

I was not able to find those women. And when I inquired about them at the governorate’s offices, the officer refused to cooperate, claiming we were dealing here with “classified information.”

Minor girls were also molested

I met five girls between the ages of 13 and 15 who have been sexually harassed, one by an officer, the other four by residents and workers of the rural Damascene shelter, back in 2016. None of them dared to tell anyone except their mothers who asked them to keep quiet out of fear for their reputation, and the danger of expulsion.

13-year old Walaa is one of those girls. She and her family were displaced from Adra in 2013 and settled in a shelter near Damascus. Walaa lives with her mother and siblings in a small room. Her mother double-locks the door at night. She lives in fear for the safety of her daughters, ever since her husband was detained in 2014 and she has been kept in the dark about his fate.

Walaa’s mother felt utterly helpless when her daughter came home in tears one day after being molested by the supervisor who gave her the family’s food portion.

Walaa recounts: “first, when he talked to me in a weird way, I didn’t care. I was very tired from the long wait. I was thinking about the dinner my mother was preparing, and I wanted to take the basket and leave quickly, especially that mother always warned us not to hang around the center after sunset. But then he began to touch me. I tried to scream but he put his hand on my mouth and touched my private parts.” She continues, “ I went to my mom. We cried a lot. We didn’t dare take any action. My father has been missing for three years. We know nothing of his whereabouts. Those people can harm us. No one is here to protect us. What can we do?”

Psychological effects

Psychiatrist Mohammed Mohsen reflects on the psychological damage of sexual extortion: “the victim feels oppressed and neglected. Replaying the details of the assault in her head can result in severe depression as well. In some cases, stress, anxiety, and a gloomy view of life could lead to suicide. The psychological harm resulting from sexual coercion needs serious medical attention.”

The law forbids but filing a complaint is impossible

In its “Public Morality Crimes” section, Syrian law distinguishes between “rape” and “honor crime.”

Given the “coercion” element in sexual extortion, the penal code classifies it under “rape.”

However, “in the absence of a clear mechanism for filing complaints, we have lost all hope that those committing such atrocities be held accountable for their crimes,” said Basema Jabry, a board member of the Syrian Women Network.

Conditions of coercion or menace in the Syrian law

“Non-consent necessarily implies physical coercion by violence or threat, or moral coercion, or abuse of power, or abuse of minors. In the absence of these acts, the offender cannot be punished.” (Resolution 886/1984 – Basis 1194 – Court of Cassation – Criminal Chambers – Syria.)

Jabry emphasizes that the law is on the victim’s side, were she to have to courage to report the crime. She adds, however, that “the fears that hold sway over the victims are justified: from fear of parents who play a negative role, to fear of society and defamation, and finally the fear of the offender himself, especially if he is in a position of power.”

*This report was produced with the support of “Open Media Hub”, funding from the European Union, and supervision from Ahmad Haj Hamdo– SIRAJ. Published on Daraj

The post Sex for food in shelters of Damascus and its rural areas appeared first on SIRAJ.

Inside the maternity ward of the public “Dugum” hospital in Gaziantep, Turkey, the Syrian refugee Nour Shabaan, aged 17, lies in a bed for pregnant women, getting ready to give birth to her baby.

The parents are overjoyed at the coming baby, perhaps it will make them forget the bitterness of displacement and moving away from their homeland since they settled in the Turkish town of Gaziantep 3 years ago fleeing the horrors of the Syrian war.

Nour delivers the baby, and things go smoothly but then the hospital refuses to give the baby to the parents on the pretext that the mother’s refugee ID has a wrong age, because she was married under the legal age of marriage (18 years). The hospital decided to keep the baby, and refer the mother to trial at once.

When Nour delivered the baby, she was 17 years old. When she got married, she was 16. In both cases, she was violating the Family Law provisions on marriage, that bans the marriage of girls under 18. This violation is described by the law as “a crime of sexual exploitation”, punishable by prison terms ranging between 8 and 15 years, according to Articles 103-105 of the Turkish Penal Code.

Although the law banning marriage of children in Turkey applies also to other foreigners living in the country, including Syrian refugees, the lack of knowledge about it, and lack of awareness about the consequences of early marriage (beside the lack of NGOs and societal oversight) led to the spread of these early marriages among the Syrian community.

The World Health Organisation estimates that there are 16 million girls around the world between 15 and 19 years old, and one million girls under 15, who give birth each year.

According to World Bank statistics for 2017, the rate of pregnancy of girls between 15 and 19 years old in Syria is around 39 cases in each 1,000 girl.

Nour is one of a great number of Syrian refugees who live in Turkey as refugees and who got married under 18 either on Turkish soil or in Syria, and then entered Turkey refugees after their marriage or having given birth in hospitals under the legal age of marriage.

According to Haydar Houri, a specialist lawyer, without being aware of the consequences of underage marriage, the fathers of the girls encourage their marriage to older men (over 18) and become legally accountable after managing the marriage. This issue is spreading throughout Turkey.

The law classifies a minor as anyone under the age of 18, according to Ghazwan Qoronful, head of the Syrian Lawyers Collective in Turkey (a group of Syrian lawyers who provide legal aid to refugees in courts of law). He adds that under the Syrian Personal Status Law, Article 85, a minor does not reach the age of eligibility until they reach 18.

According to law number 5395, covering children in Turkey, a minor is considered to be anyone below the age of 18, added Qoronful.

While early marriage is defined as the marriage of a person under the age of 18 year, according to Qoronful “This marriage in the eyes of the Turkish law is not marriage. It is categorized as sexual assault against a minor.”

The consequences of this “assault” is usually to refer such cases (usually captured at hospitals during delivery or when a girl is discovered as pregnant and her age turns out to be under 18) to the public prosecution office, that in turn moves the case on to the courts. The husband and girl’s parent are arrested. Sometimes, the girl herself is arrested, and they all are turned over to the court, according to Qoronful.

DNA test for the child

Gaziantep’s hospital decided to let Nour go, after she recovered from the delivery. The baby stayed at the hospital. The hospital ordered a DNA test to confirm his identity as to whether he’s indeed her son, and the mother found herself in another pitfall.

Nour confessed to the investigator that she forged her age and real name. She said, “for this case, I used the help of a Syrian lawyer to oversee the test procedures, and for taking a blood sample from the baby for the test. The lawyer wasn’t able to help, however. So I hired a Turkish lawyer. Now, I am waiting for the results, to see if they will allow me to take the baby home. They allow me to see him, however. I go see him every 3 days, because the hospital is away from where I live. It is a long distance that I cannot commute through daily.”

Nour’s baby came to the world 2 months and 5 days before I interviewed her on 25 January 2019. Since then, nothing has changed. She is still waiting for the DNA test’s results, and is waiting for the baby to come home. But she’s “optimistic”, and waits for the day the baby will return to her.

In case he doesn’t return, she said, the lawyer told her he will file a case against the hospital. This is what gives her hope and keeps her going.

“I know a girl who had been through this before me. She delivered her baby 7 months ago, and the tests results showed up few days back”, said Nour, “So now she can take the baby from the hospital.”

The test done through the Ministry of Health’s budget was a relief for the mother, since she didn’t have to pay for it. The lawyer’s fees, however, reached 7,000 Turkish Liras ($1200). The family had to go into debt because they didn’t have even one single Lira to start with, according to Nour.

A love story

Nour regrets forging her name and age. But her motive for this was being afraid of having her real age discovered, because she did this in order to marry her cousin (20 years old), after a love story, she claims. She lives with her in-laws now, while her parents and siblings live in Adana, southern Turkey.

“I am sad because my child is not with me, but what can I do. God willing, in a few days he will return to me. They care for the babies at hospital. Every time I go visit I see he’s clean and well-fed”, Nour said, “I couldn’t breastfeed him because right after delivering the baby I had to go to court each day, and I wasn’t able at that time to go visit the hospital as well to breastfeed him.”

“At the hospital, they said that my boy looks like me. But they need a legal proof. I feel so sad because I couldn’t breastfeed him. I begged the hospital to let me do that, but each time they deny my request.”

At the court

Marwa Alyoussef is 17 years old. She has been married to her cousin, who works as a tailor, for two years now, since she was 15 years old. Her story is not so different from Nour’s, but she endured different kinds of suffering that were reflected on her life in Turkey as the country she fled to from Syria.

Marwa who came from the famous al-Midan neighborhood, Damascus, didn’t notarize her marriage (that was conducted in Syria) at the Turkish authorities. Therefore, she lacks reliable documentation about her social status in Turkish governmental records. She had a baby from her marriage. The baby is now one year old.

Marwa said, “I delivered the baby at the Bagajlar public hospital in Istanbul. I wasn’t interrogated or asked any questions during the delivery. However, one year after the delivery, the police came and asked me to go visit the station. I went, and they held an investigation for me. They reviewed my documentation, and gave me a date to go visit the court, 4 months later.”

When Marwa entered the courtroom at Karakoy, Istanbul, after referral from the police, she found a translator, a psychiatrist, a judge, and a public writer. She said, “They asked me so many questions about my personal life. Questions like, ‘do you regret your marriage? Do you love your husband? Did someone coerce you into getting married? Do you currently have a job?’. These were important questions for them because they do not allow married women my age to work outside the household. They also asked me to refrain from pregnancy for 3 years.”

Until now, Marwa doesn’t know what she did wrong, because “marriage at that young age is so widespread in Syria, not only within my family. I married before I come to Turkey. I have papers to prove it. There is nothing wrong with me getting married”, Marwa said.

According to her, she knows about “so many marriages of girls at 12 and 13 years old. I mean once the girl reaches puberty she would get married, nothing is wrong with that”.

“I have many friends with the same issue. They can face imprisonment. They went to court many times, because they get a ruling of being innocent from accusations against them. They also paid lots of money, reaching 20,000 Liras ($3660) in some cases, and as low as 5,000 Liras ($915) in other cases, as fees for lawyers, commute, and other costs related to the court.”

Meanwhile, she also fears the repercussions on her husband if the authorities discover their early marriage and how they had a baby while they were both minors, under the age of marriage. She waits for the next court hearing in late April 2019.

She said, “I am afraid that they might take my husband. I love him so much. In case the court decides to put him in prison, we might go back to Syria, although he was summoned there for military conscription.”

Marriage in Turkey

• Marriage in Turkey is civil marriage. Turkish family law organizes marriage, and its provisions do not rely on religions [sic].
• Age of marriage: 18 years old.
• Exceptions from the age limit:
  • Persons at 17, with the consent of parents.
  • Persons at 16, after consent from the judge at family court.
  • People with special needs who are 18 or older, can get married after consent from the family court’s judge, based on medical reports about their capacity to get married.
• No polygamy in Turkey.
• Any marriage concluded outside municipalities’ marriage offices is not legal.

Source for the infographics: Syrian lawyer Haydar Houri

A widespread phenomenon

The phenomenon of early marriage among minor Syrian girls in Turkey, and in other countries of destination for Syrian refugees, is like a snowball that keeps rolling and getting bigger. It persists in the absence of awareness about the risks and dangers, and in spite of the grave psychological problems it produces for the family (parents and children alike). This phenomenon has become well known from the media focus directed at it, in order to help spread awareness about it, and to try and find a solution that might help control this phenomenon.

In an investigation report by ‘Al-Arabi Al-Jadid’ entitled “Underage mothers in Turkey” on 15 March 2018, it was pointed out that the reception at one hospital, during the first five months of last year, had visits from 115 pregnant children. Police were not notified about them. They included 39 Syrians, and the rest were Turkish. Among the 115 cases, 38 were minors under 15 years old.

This is what led the Turkish authorities to open two separate investigations. The first is related to public servants accused of negligence. The second is related to the exploitation of children.

Public Prosecution managed to investigate the cases of 20 of the accused, and to conduct investigations related to 50 minors, in the presence of a psychiatrist. Investigations had shown that all pregnant minors live in neighborhoods and municipalities of Istanbul with high population concentration of people who moved there from Eastern and South Eastern Turkey.

In the same context, in Sweden, the country that received around 110 thousand Syrian refugees, representing the second biggest migrant group in the country,132 minor refugees were married to adults according to UNHCR’s statistics until 2016, although the numbers didn’t specify their gender. This has led the Swedish Tax Authority to strengthen the rules of evaluating and registering child-marriage cases, even if other authorities allowed such marriages.

In Germany, which hosts 699,000 Syrians, representing the third biggest migrant group in the country, the Federal Statistics Office in 2018, and the Federal Ministry of Homeland Security, estimated that 1,475 minors registered as married, including 361 girls under 14. This led the Ministry of Justice to introduce a bill, by which the German government will not recognize marriages documented through foreign marriage certificates, in case one of the couple is under 18.

Birth, but under conditions

When Israa Muhammad (15 years) decided to go to the public hospital in Kilis, Turkey to give birth to her first child, the hospital denied her entry. She decided to go to a private hospital, but she didn’t make it through the door there either.

“The doctor shouted at me, saying you are young, and the child is small”, said Israa, “I cannot take responsibility in case one of you dies, which is very probable.”

She added, “At that time, I was in great pain, giving birth, and the baby was almost fully born. We didn’t know where to go, but God put in our way a legal midwife, who agreed to do the operation. She said she will do it on condition that she will not be held responsible if something happened to me or the baby. We could only accept, because we didn’t have any other options.”

Dr. Sawat Irchahin, the head gynecologist at Medical Park in Istanbul, said, “Early marriage has a negative influence on the health of mother and child. Symptoms appear early in the pregnancy, with nonstop vomiting, anemia, as well as the possibility of miscarriage and early births. This is because of female hormones at this early age, or because the uterus is not ready yet for pregnancy. This leads to spasms that might lead to hemorrhage, and thus early births happen. The young girl can also suffer high blood pressure, leading to kidney failure, internal hemorrhage, spams, and the need for cesarean operations become more likely.”

The doctor confirmed that early pregnancy “increases the likelihood of suffering bone deformations in the pelvic area and the spine. It can also negatively affect the embryo’s health. The embryo can suffocate inside the mother because of a likely severe shortage in the blood circulation feeding him.”

Early birth can also lead to a shortage in the respiratory functions, because the embryo can be born without fully formed lungs. The child can suffer problems in the digestive system, and a delay in physical and mental growth. The child can also suffer brain paralysis or hearing impairments, according to Dr. Irchahin.

Getting pregnant once again

The pain and suffering Israa had been through didn’t stop her from getting pregnant one more time. She didn’t think about how her early marriage would  be discovered when she went to the hospital to give birth to her second child. At the time, she was 16 years old.

“When I was pregnant with my second child, I went to the Kamil public hospital,” said Israa. “There, they had to receive me, because the baby’s head had already emerged. They quickly put me in the delivery room. After the baby was born, they registered my personal data, and soon enough the police came to interrogate me. They kept me at the hospital for 12 days.”

During that period, her daughter was inside an incubator in the hospital. The mother went through investigations and interrogations. They took her fingerprints, and in the end allowed her to leave the hospital with her baby girl.

She said, “I felt I was a prisoner released. I told myself I will not get pregnant again until I am 20.”

How the prosecution proceeds

• The case starts during child birth, or during consulting the doctors while monitoring births in public hospitals and clinics.
• Police are notified by the doctor, because failing to inform the police is considered a crime.
• The Supreme Criminal Court in Turkey manages these cases, because the penalty is over 5 years of imprisonment.
• Penalties, based on the judge’s discretion can reach 10 years in prison, according to the Turkish Penal Code.
• The case starts without the need for someone filing it.
• The case is referred to prosecution, that demands verdicts against the husband and the minor’s parent.

 Source: Haydar Houri, Syrian lawyer.

The Social-media’s market

Some groups and pages specialized in matters related to women and girls on social media provide a forum for discussions about child marriage and refugee affairs in host communities in general. Some of these pages also provide information for arranging marriages.

A woman for example would say she needs a wife for her son or another relative, with specific demands, like her age, height, where she lives, etc, and proposals start coming her way.

This investigator witnessed several cases, where she contacted the people in question, but it is hard to expose their real names because the topic is sensitive. Samar (not her real name) says she got married at 14, and delivered her first baby at 15, at a private hospital in Istanbul. She didn’t go to a public hospital fearing the procedures. But she had to go to public healthcare facilities to vaccinate the child.

There, officials initiated an investigation into her about her marriage and when it happened. The police also interrogated her the next day.

Her father was arrested, and police searched for her husband, who is on the run until now, according to her post.

Social expert Adel Hanif Ughlu, who worked in 2012-2013 on documenting 11 child marriage cases of girls, including 9 cases ending in kidney failure, says, “Syrian families hide this affairs very well. Even those who have Turkish nationality have their daughters married while still minors, even though they know this is a crime under Turkish laws.”

Official statistics and numbers

* 405,521 Syrian children have been born in Turkey in up to November 2018.

Source: Minister of Interior, Süleyman Soylu, 22 February 2019.

* Urfa province in southern Turkey is among the provinces with highest occurrences of Syrian births.

* 400 Syrian children are born in Turkey each day.

* Urfa’s share of that number is 50 to 55 per day.

Source: Head of Migration Research Center, Muhammad Murad Erdogan, 25 October 2018.

* Over half a million Syrian children are born in Turkey and who are under 4 years, do not possess any nationality (stateless).

* Current number of those registered as deserving temporary protection is 3.5 million.

* The number of stateless newborns and children under 4 in Turkey is 535,826.

Source: Turkish Migration and Refuge Authority, and the Ombudsman office, 25 August 2018.

Endless psychological problems

Early marriage doesn’t leave its mark on the girl’s physical health only, but it also leads to deep psychological crises that become hard to get through with the passage of time, for the girl and for her children. Psychiatrist Omnia Turk says that this early marriage “denies the girl the kindness of her parents, and her right to choose a husband herself. It also means denying her living her full childhood. The girl doesn’t understand married life, or the responsibility on her shoulders, leading to huge pressures in some cases. Also, she suffers problems in her sexual life, because she doesn’t understand married or sexual life. This leads to breakdowns between the couple, and the inability to adjust with the problems of marriage.”

Another aspect negatively affecting the children, is that they do not understand that the mother herself is a minor, and “that leads to unsound and unwise decisions, because the minor doesn’t care for giving her children education. She didn’t acquire the ability to discipline or raise the children, let alone being denied herself the right to education, which negatively influences her and the children.”

She added, “When she grows up, the minor discovers that she married the wrong person, or not the person she wants to continue her life with. She discovers that she was used as if she was an object for sale.”

Early marriage in religion

Marriage cannot happen unless the couple are on equal terms. In Sharia, this equality is required. Here, Dr. Muhammad Nadir, a lecturer at Karabük University, Turkey, says, “If the girl marries a person who is not equal to her, without her consent, the marriage is considered null and void, according to most Ulama (experts in religious law).”

According to Dr. Nadir, “The couple being on an equal footing is an inherent right for the woman. She cannot be coerced into forfeiting that right. It is a condition for marriage, and marriage of minors is void of this quality. Sharia might grant the minor a separate/independent financial capacity, overseen by her parent, in her interest. Her money cannot be spent except in her interest. Interest in marriage is even more important than finances, because honor is more important than money.”

Solutions to the phenomenon

Faced with this reality and in the absence of sufficient solutions for the problematic phenomenon of early marriage in Turkey among the Syrians, and regardless of if that marriage was conducted in Syria or Turkey, the future of such marriages is vague. Against the strict Turkish Law, Nour and Marwa will keep waiting for the results of their prosecution, anxiously waiting for the influence on their future and lives. Here, the Syrian lawyer Haydar Houri recommends to avoid marriage before 18. This marriage, according to him, is problematic, because, “There are many cases of prosecution in Turkey.”

When the minor girl is discovered as being married, one of two methods is used. Either to refer her to a shelter for minors, or return her to her family home, and make the family promise not to send her ever again to the husband.

Houri, on the other hand, recommends that any person married to a minor girl in Turkey, should try to document his marriage in one way or another in Syria, to avoid penalty. This is because once the marriage is documented by Syrian Sharia courts, this documentation can be used in the prosecution to avoid penalizing the husband, because the act is a crime in his country.

*This investigation was conducted under supervision of the Syrian Investigative Reporting Unit – SIRAJ, within the context of “Syria In Depth” project, conducted in cooperation with the Guardian Foundation, with support from IMS. 

The post “Mothers before their time” appeared first on SIRAJ.

Suddenly, the Syrian girl Reem (36 years ) found herself alone in Egyptian Aswan governorate ‘streets , without any shelter or breadwinner ,after her Egyptian husband Mohammad gave up of her and denying/disavowal of her rights as a result of their “the Arfi /customary/informal “ marriage, which is undocumented at the Egyptian courts .

Reem couldn’t able for documenting her marriage contract from Mohamad because she couldn’t register her divorce from her Syrian ex-husband at the Syrian official departments.

While “The foreigners’ marriage office “ in Egypt is requiring from the foreign woman who desires to marry an Egyptian must have a civil status record clarifying her marital status, and due to Reem still married in her Syrian documents, So she couldn’t register her marriage from the Egyptian Mohamad .

Reem entered to Egypt in April 2012, after she has separated with her Syrian husband, and in the same month of the year 2014, she got married Mohamad and she lived with him at Nasir city and after that in Al Sharkia governorate, for one year and eight months.

Reem is saying that she returned back Syria to see her children , then she returned back again Egypt to find her husband disavowal of her , by a phone call telling her that he got married from Egyptian girl and he started with her a new life, and he don’t want any problems.

Reem couldn’t able for documenting her marriage contract from Mohamad because she couldn’t register her divorce from her Syrian ex-husband at the Syrian official departments.

This investigation has documented during six months stories of six Syrian refugees women, between of them Reem, who they got married from Egyptians by undocumented Arfi /customary contracts, then they were divorced after passing months of the marriage by their husbands, and the disclaimer/disavowal of all the rights, including the alimony, accommodation and joy (amount of money) and confirming/registering the marriage and children’s descent.

he Arfi/customary marriage doesn’t require only a paper signed by both parties at one of the lawyers’ office then they become spouses.

The investigation has monitored the exploitation of the Egyptians men for economical circumstances of Syrians refugees women in Egypt, and due to not having their documents to get married from them by “external ” contract, and thus this marriage will be finished from the husband’s side, and what is exacerbates the problem, the high cost which imposed by the Syrian embassy for extracting documents or amending data and the impossibility of extracting some of it.

That is happened during failure of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in its role in providing the assistance to the Syrians women. In addition inability of the Syrian & Egyptian civil society organizations which is taking care of the woman to provide actual assistance for those women, and the social outlook that accompanies women after divorce.

The woman rights after divorce in the Egyptian law:

1-The alimony: including food, clothes, accommodation and treatment expenses according to article No.1 of personal status law.

2-List of movables things: devices, furniture, value of gold, component of marriage accommodation and the advanced & deferred dowry, according to marriage contract as per articles No.10-20-15 of law No.1 of year 2000.

3-The joy (money ): it is estimated by an expenses and it can be imposed for long period at least two years ,according to article No.18 of law No.25 of year 1929 which added by law No.100 of year 1985.

Passing visa

At 8th of July 2013 , the Cairo airport authorities is returned-back plane affiliated to Syrian airlines to Syria – Lattakia governorate, by virtue of start applying the new entrance measures on Syrians , and that was the date of imposing visa and prior security approval for entering the Syrians to Egypt.

After this date for more than two years, Reem felt in longing for her children in Syria, so she traveled to see them, then she returned back in November 2016 but entering Egypt in this time was not easy, Reem surprised by imposing visa “elusive ” and that pushed her to travel to Sudan, then to Egypt by smuggling way, across the southern border.

Reem is clarifying that after her coming to Egypt she called to her husband, who in his turn has disavowed of her and has married an Egyptian woman without giving her any of her rights.

And that forced her later to resident at “Madkour” garden in Aswan governorate southern of Egypt, and she lost over there her documents including her marriage contract, until “the Syrian commission for refugees’ affairs in Egypt” has ensured her sponsorship and taking care up to date.

“We took Reem to psychiatrist in order to rehabilitate her from the shock which she is exposed to” as saying head of the commission Taysir Alnajar “.

The Reem’s story is similar with the Syrian young girl Kinda (33 years –alias) because she had to get married an Egyptian by Arfi/customary contract, because she doesn’t have the official documents to register her marriage officially, due to her entering to Egypt for the first time illegally across the Sudanese border, but the tragedy’s face in kinda’s story that she has given birth from this marriage relationship.

And she is saying that her husband left her with her infant, and he denied all of his responsibility under the pressure of his first wife, and the young girl with her infant remained without any shelter or sustenance.

Kinda arrived to Egypt in March 2014 , and had lived in one of her relatives house , then she got married in July 2017 from Ayman (alias ), who is working as a teacher in Azhari Institute, and she has divorced in June 2018, after giving birth a baby from her Egyptian husband.

who he is starting to extract new documents for her and her son before the interfering of his first wife and start to threat the lawyer to stop extracting the documents to prevent making kinda’s status legally on the Egyptian lands.

Kinda is saying that “Her husband’s wife has engaged her for him , by her will , in order to have a child , because she couldn’t have children for him but herself turned over her ” clarifying that these pressures finished after the husband divorced kinda.

And she is referring that she accepted the Arfi marriage because she wants to establish a new life and to have a house, good life, and to get rid of material pressures and the burden of staying at her relatives.

The lawyer Yousef Al -Mutani , a member of the Egyptian association for international law , is referring that ” The most prominent reasons which prevent Syrians to register their marriages in Egypt are entering some of them from Sudan by the smuggling way , due to that they cannot obtain an official entrance visa , and that make them violators on the Egyptian lands“.

The organizations inability/failure

Kinda knocked door of the organizations which are concerning in woman, some of them like “The general commission for Syrians refugees in Egypt, Syrians association, Syrian relief committee and Syriana “, but the answer was “we can’t do anything”.

Latifa Daghman head of Suriat Almaadi and Hilwan association, which is an association concerns in woman affairs & refugees integration, is saying that “we cannot do anything toward these cases, because their marriages not documented, so the official departments don’t recognize it absolutely “.

And she added “we are trying in friendly way to communicate with the husband for recovering his wife’s rights, by reactivate the religious deterrent inside him, because we have no other choice”.

Steps and costs of marriage registration for Syrian woman in Egypt:

1- Extracting of civil status record & marriage approval from the Syrian embassy cost of $ 40.

2- Power of attorney of lawyer to file lawsuit at the Egyptian family court to confirm/register the marriage in cost of between $200-500 according to the lawyer fee.

3- After obtaining a verdict in the marriage relationship, the marriage will be documented or extracting birth certificate for the child at “the civil registry “.

“we don’t interfere in like these matters , we only are providing the material, medical and psychological assistances , and in case we received any complain , we are trying to solve it by a friendly ways , in case of failure it , there is no other way ” as saying Taisyer Alnajar , Head of the Syrian commission for refugee affairs in Egypt .

Like kinda’s case, the lawyer Issam Hamed asserts, who is caring about the Syrians affairs in Egypt, that proving of her infant’s descent requires power of attorney of lawyer and file a lawsuit to confirm/register the marriage, then after it, proving of the child’s descent/ ancestry case, and she has been failed in that due to her illegal status at the Egyptian lands.

Half million Syrian refugees

According to the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Sisi in his dialogue with French journal Le Figaro in October of 2017, the number of Syrians in Egypt reached to 500 thousands, between them 127 thousands registered at “The United Nation High Commission for Refugees’ Affairs” in Egypt according to its electronic website.

This Syrians presence in Egypt has made 10 thousands marriage status, between Egyptian man and Syrian woman in 2012, according the national statistic center for woman, and the number decreased during year of 2017.

Where the foreign marriage office which affiliated to Egyptian Ministry of Justice in registering of 472 marriage status documented at the governmental departments between Egyptian man & Syrian woman.

And at the absence the statistics about the Arfi marriage, the person who prepared this investigation tried to statistic the lawsuits number of “external” marriage which have prepared by three Egyptians lawyers at Cairo governorate.

They were chosen for their specialty in these cases, where the Egyptian lawyer Rabeh Aldaswki has worked on /200/ marriage registration suits among Syrians women and Egyptians men between years of 2016-2018 half of it have been succeeded at least until now.

while the lawyer Yousef Al – Mutani has worked on /110/ marriage registration suits during years of 2017-2018 , and while the lawyer Issam Hamed has worked on /900/ marriage registration suits among Syrians women and Egyptians men between years of 2013-2018.

The Syrian lawyer Firas Alhaj manger of the “Syrian Legal Gathering” is saying “that he is receiving daily calls for inquiring about marriage procedures and clarifying that /10 % /of these cases the husband is Egyptian, and between /60-70 %/of these cases the marriage is undocumented (not registered officially) “.

And the lawyer Issam Hamed is saying that ” 70% of the undocumented marriage cases the woman lost her rights due to the husband’s disavowal“, pointing out that he has met more than /100/ Syrian refugees woman her husband left her alone and disappeared, varied between who was divorced without obtaining her rights, and the other women who did not get the divorce, and some of them have indeed given birth and remained without registration.

The previous marriage‘s maze

“Stay at your friend ,you are divorced “a brief short call, Nadin has received – alias – (39 years old) from her Egyptian husband Amer , to finish by it a marriage life which has kept to 14 months, and Nadin was living with him in apartment at Cairo.

Nadin left her house to visit her friend in Egyptian Obour City, and during her presence over there, her husband divorced her by a phone call, under pressure from his family who was refused the marriage because Nadin was divorced, and he is a virgin and older than him in 6 years and she has a children.

Nadin is saying:”I have come to Egypt, and I has introduced to Amer(alias) by one of my friends , who was working with her in the dairy & cheese plant ,and after two weeks from our meeting , he asked me for marriage and convinced me to accept due to we both are living alone .

I accepted immediately because I was living at one of my acquaintances house in the popular Sharabiya area in Cairo, and my daughter & I were forming a burden on them”.

Amer convinced Nadin in marriage by virtue of Arfi contract, and accepted because she didn’t register her divorce with her previous Syrian husband.

Nadin is clarifying that she don’t have any acquaintances in Syria in order to file the separation lawsuit (breaking up) with her previous husband on behalf of her , and she don’t have the sufficient money for that.

During Nadin marriage with Amer she was facing a fierce opposition from his family, and she is saying that she tried to conciliate with this family but in vain until ending of the matter, by Amer’s acquiescence to his family requests and divorcing her by phone.

After the divorce Nadin tried to looking for Amer in different ways to obtain her rights, but he has changed his residency place, job and his phone number, and she is saying: “No one knows her place like a pinch of salt which has melted (proverb)”.

Nadin one of three girls who were met by the person who prepared this investigation and they have accepted the Arfi marriage due to not registering their old divorce from their husbands, one of them her husband is living with her in Egypt and he is refusing divorce her at the court before she waived to him on her owned estate (property) in Syria.

“The verbal divorce not consider a divorce until confirmation (registering) it in the court“, as was commented on this case by the Syrian lawyer Rehada Abdoush.

And Abdoush added” the Syrian woman who is living outside Syria who desires to register her divorce has to power of attorney one of her acquaintances in Syria to file the separation lawsuit on behalf of her”, clarifying the main problem in this lawsuit, that it takes a long period, it may takes three years, especially in case of insisting the husband and refusing the divorce, and it costs about /$300/ inside Syria, and /$100/ outside it, to be the total amount of /$400/.

Steps of confirmation /registering the divorce for Syrian woman in Egypt in the absence of the husband:

1- Power of attorney of one of her relative in Syria by the Syrian embassy.

2- Certifying on the powers of attorney from the Syrian & Egyptian foreign ministry.

3- The authorized person should power of attorney a lawyer.

4- File a separation suit.

5- Obtaining a separation verdict.

6- Transferring the suit from the court to the civil status registry to change the marital status from married to divorced.

Mixing /confusing the Egyptian & Syrian laws

The confusing between Syrian & Egyptian law is one of the largest problems which is facing the Syrian women during the marriage, according to the Egyptian lawyer Yousef Al – Mutani who is interested about the Syrians cases.

And he is saying:” the Syrians are getting married in their country by the proxy (sheikh), and then they register their marriage at the Sharia court.

while in Egypt there the matter is different ,where the marriage contract is concluded at the foreigners’ marriage office which affiliated to Egyptian Ministry of Justice in case of one of the spouses is foreign, or the marriage contract is concluded at a lawyer office, then power of attorney a lawyer to file a marriage confirmation/registering suit”.

And this is unknown matter by most of the Syrian in Egypt, because this method required complicated documents are:” a new civil status record its duration not exceed on three months and clarifying the marital status and documented/approved by the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In addition to the wife’s guardian approval that he doesn’t mind the marriage and approved by the Syrian embassy, a valid residency, passport, in addition a two health certificates that there nothing prevents the marriage”.

Al – Mutani referred to that : there are many Syrians cannot extract a civil status record from the Syrian lands , because they don’t have relatives in Syria or that the war in Syria is hampering their movement to extract it and they don’t have choice but the Syrian embassy to extract it.

But the documents at the Syrian embassy is considers with a high cost in comparison with the economical status of most of the Syrians women in Egypt, the cost of slow passport extracting reached to /$300/,

And urgent passport cost of /$800/, while the cost of the general power of attorney is /$100/, and a residency deed/ $50 /, and that according to the Syrian embassy website in Cairo.

These prices were the main hamper in front of Kinda, who has got married by the Arfi contract because she wasn’t able to pay a lot of money for her country embassy, so that made her unable to file a lawsuit for confirmation her marriage and also for infant’s descent confirmation/registration.

In this context, Dugman asserts that:” the high costs of extracting documents from embassy form a motive at many Syrian refugees in Egypt for not extracting any documents from the embassy, and for not registering any changing in their social status, because they should pay for any obtained document, during difficult circumstances which they are living here”.

As also most of Syrians who opposite the Syrian regime don’t go to the Syrian consulates & embassies for extracting the documents.

But the lawyer Issam Hamed asserts that in case of the marriage was really happened by the Arfi contract and if the wife desired to confirm the marriage, thus “The United Nation High Commission for Refugee’s Affairs “ in Egypt will bear the cost.

And the Egyptian courts exclude condition of valid residency availability, and he is clarifying that after he has explained this point in an awareness seminar in front of Syrians women , he found that 400 hundred women asked to file a marriage confirmation/registration lawsuit , adding “they was ignorant that information”.

And the Syrian lawyer Rehada Abdoush asserts that the Syrian woman in Egypt in case if she married an Egyptian she can pursue him in a lawsuit for confirmation /registering her marriage.

$140: Not received dowry!

The Syrian woman Ahlam is living with her three children in Al Giza governorate in bad economical circumstances that prevent her & children from renewal her residency and her children residency, until she has received news of the death of her daughter’s husband in Syria.

And that necessitate her travel to Syria, to console her daughter and to be with her, and due to that she doesn’t not has a residency inside Egypt, thus in case she traveled to Syria she will not be able to return back.

“I was working in buffet/cafeteria at one of the institutions to save money for my family, until we started to leave some of the food kinds and meat for making the salary sufficient”. As Ahlam said.

The renewal of the residency transaction is costs about /550 /pounds, and in addition its Delay penalties up to/ 1053 /pounds, for the three first delaying months, and 550 pounds on every three months follow after it, thus the fines has accumulated on Ahlam and that made her unable to extract the residency.

70% of undocumented marriage cases, the woman rights are lost due the husband’s disavowal:

Ahlam went to an Egyptian lawyer called Mahmoud to help her, but he take advantaged her circumstance, to force her to marry him by Arfi contract, to assistance her in extracting residencies for her & her children, after he convinced her that this the marriage is the only way to extract the residency and he promised to help her in extracting the residences by his

acquaintances and bearing its costs.

Ahlam has agreed to marry him after closing all the ways in front of her, and she gave up all the expenses of marriage for him, even he lived in his house in October area at Al Giza.

“He took me to one of his known lawyers’ office by him, and wrote the marriage contract over there and he appointed the dowry in /1000/ Egyptian pound as an advanced dowry and /1000/ Egyptian pounds as an deferred dowry ($ 140), thus I agreed and signed the contract after he convinced me that he will save the money for marriage expenses and extracting the residences”. As Ahlam said.

The Ahlam’s Arfi (unregistered) marriage contract

After the marriage , he obtained a six months residency for her ,and that enabled her travel Syria and returning back to Egypt , and he refused to extract any residency for her children as he promised lately ,arguing that they are adults and can make money.

Ahlam is saying that:” disavowed what he promised me, and he has been coming one day a week and giving me the house expenses between /100-200/  Egyptian pounds (7-14 dollars) and he don’t pay the apartment’s rent”.

All that pushed Ahlma to ask divorce, and he divorced her without giving

her any of her rights including the advanced & deferred /2000/ Egyptian pounds dowry, then he started to threaten her to deport her with her children to Syria, if she did not send him the Arfi’s contract to prevent her obtaining of her rights.

We offered all the obtained marriage contracts regarding the Syrians women to the Egyptian lawyer Mohamad Atef , who specialized in the civil law , and he asserted that the contracts are correct, due to its containing of all data ,including names of the both contract parties , dowry and the witnesses.

(UNHCR) and the favoritisms

In front of these big difficulties which the Syrians women are confronting it, thus “United Nations High Commission for Refugees” is intervened after happening the Arfi’s marriage, where it is powering of attorney a lawyer to file a lawsuit at the court for confirming/registering the marriage and bearing the suit costs.

But in this process “the favoritisms are intervening in it, where the cases are powering of attorney to lawyers with little experience, who are not caring, but they are only filing the lawsuit on behalf the affected woman in front of the court and obtaining their fees from the UNHCR, without the actual interesting in the case details or follow up it at the courts, and that resulted not obtaining the woman her right”, as are

referring by the Syrian lawyer Firas Haj Yahia.

And Haj Yahia added that:”if the lawyer was unspecialized or with little experience, the woman loses the lawsuit, and she will lose her legal, material and literary right”. Pointing that he has met many Syrians women who they suffered from lack of lawyers’ experience.

The lawyer Yousef Al – Mutani is saying:”the foreigners’ marriage confirmation lawsuits have a special mechanism, a lot of the lawyers lose it, due to the lawyer should present a copy of Syrian Civil Status Law documented by the Syrian Foreign Ministry to the judge, to base his verdict upon its articles”.

The lawyer Issam Hamed asserts that more than 70% of the marriage confirmation lawsuits for Syrians women which he has worked on it, he was as the second lawyer in it, after failure of the previous lawyers.

We asked many questions to the UNHCR, about its procedures in case if it is received a complaint from a woman married by Arfi’s contract, and the provided assistance from it, and if it can provide assistance in extracting the documents, but we have not been received any respond up to moment of publishing the investigation.

Since her entering illegally to Egypt in the last of 2016 until now, Reem still does not know which road to walk in, due to the psychological & physical shock which she has exposed to it, and she has been perplexed in returning back to her country for living in it, which the war are grinding it, or staying in a strange country, her husband abandoned her in it, after she has been passed a long distances at the desert between Egypt & Sudan for reaching it.

*This investigation was conducted under supervision of the Syrian Investigative Reporting Unit – SIRAJ. Published on DARAJ.

The post “Temporary wife” appeared first on SIRAJ.

Asharq Alawsaat – After his release from a Syrian detention center in mid-2016, secondary school teacher Saleh, 56, expected to return to the job he’d held for 22 years before being arrested. He was not allowed nor could he look for another similar job.

Saleh obtained a judicial ruling ending the restriction – or temporary suspension – put on him when he was arrested. The ruling supported his right to return to his job.  But his employers wanted a security clearance first —  and under terms adopted by the Syrian government in 2013 getting one is complicated.

On top of that, since he was officially still employed by the Ministry of Education, though not allowed back into a classroom, Saleh could not go looking for another real job.

He felt suspended between heaven and earth, and that is the status of 4,500 workers like him who have been restricted since the start of the Syrian crisis in 2011 through 2017. According to Judge Yahya Al-Ali of the State Council, workers have filed lawsuits with the administrative court in Damascus demanding restitution and the release of their suspended wages, although that court cannot really help.

Disciplinary court laws of 1990 regulate the process of restriction, but they don’t define the specific procedures or a time frame in which those temporarily suspended from work can return. The laws also do not demand compliance from employers. None of that helped Saleh, nor did a circular distributed by the special office of the Prime Minister to businesses in 2013 that bypassed the laws – and seemingly Article 51 of the Syrian Constitution which guarantees that citizens will be regarded as innocent until proven guilty by a court of law after a fair trial.

The Circular said instead that “employees arrested and subsequently released without prosecution for a duration not exceeding 15 days, and where no action was taken against them; do not require security clearance to be reinstated.” It added that people arrested and referred to the relevant judicial authority with administrative action taken against them (dismissal from service – termination – restriction) “require security clearance before they are reinstated to their position irrespective of the causes of their arrest whether it was a matter of security or related to current events.”

Saleh was arrested in April 2015 for “concealment of a felony and funding terrorism” on grounds that his brother, an accused member of the Syrian resistance, visited him at his home in the town of Babbila in Rif Dimashq.

Saleh tried in vain to prove to security agencies that his brother had been released from the “Palestine security branch” in Damascus on Feb. 24, 2015, had his passport renewed with the approval of authorities, and then traveled to the northeastern city of Qamishli via Damascus airport.

A year and three months after his arrest, Saleh was released and granted a non-prosecution affidavit by the Criminal Justice Court dated Oct. 24, 2016, due to the absence of evidence against him. He submitted a request to return to his job three days later. in turn, the Ministry submitted a request to the National Security Bureau for a security clearance. After a two-month wait, the request was denied.

Administrators turned over Saleh’s file to the Disciplinary Court in Damascus where legal proceedings went on for seven months, and on May 8, 2017, Saleh received a verdict endorsed by the State Council ruling the “absence of legal accountability and reversal of the restraint order.”

But when he tried again for his job, the Ministry did not act on the court’s decision and again requested a security clearance.

Judge Al-Ali said,  “The role of the administrative court ends as soon as a verdict is reached, decreed absolute, and the ruling announced by the State Council.”

With no money coming and his family forced by war to move eight times, Saleh took the only work he could —  working as a porter in a vegetable shop in a Damascus’s market. Carrying heavy loads caused a back injury and before long two sons, one in high school and another in university, had to drop out and help support the family.  He learned of a a possible job teaching with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), but it required a “not currently employed” statement in  accordance with labor law. Since Saleh was still registered as an employee of the Ministry he lost out. He describes restriction as “a silent execution.”

Wedad Khalid, the clerk in charge of the restriction file at the legal department of the Ministry of Education in Rif Dimashq, said,  “We cannot reinstate employees to their position until they are granted a security clearance.” She said she sent a second and a third request for security approval for Saleh,  but all were denied.

The ministry where Saleh is employed, and the Damascus City Water Supply Authority, registered the highest percentage of restriction cases according to judge Yahya Al-Ali ,although he did not provide specific numbers.

The situation is not so different in other sectors according to 11 employees interviewed for this report who were also subject to restriction and deprived of employment after being arrested without cause. Four acquired irrevocable judicial rulings compelling their employers to reinstate them to their jobs – but like Saleh they could not get clearances needed to actually return.

At least Saleh’s employers tried to get him a clearance. In another case, Heba worked at the Ministry of Local Affairs until her arrest on charges of “promoting terrorist activities.”  Those charges were dropped after she spent five months in detention for lack of evidence. She was granted a presidential pardon that came with a letter of “no opposition to reinstatement.” And her legal file was closed July 21, 2014.

In her 30s now and the sole support for her parents, she has been unable ever since to secure  her old job. The head of personal affairs at her place of employment, told her simply that her boss “refuses to reinstate any employee who was arrested, and refuses to apply to the National Security Bureau for security clearance on her behalf.”

Eleven Days of Incarceration Wiped Out 15 Years of Service 

Employees can fall into the abyss of restriction because of nothing more than mistaken identity.Wisam Al-Zoubie, 40, was taken to the civil police department at Bab Moussalla in Damascus because he has the same name as a wanted person. He was released after 11 days to find that he has been put under restriction by the Civil Affair Bureau in Damascus on Jan. 17, 2017.

“I was questioned and released when it was decided that I was not the wanted person and was referred to the judiciary and received a clearance of wrong doing by an irrevocable judicial order,” Wisam said.

Still, there was an order of restriction against him. He provided proof about the mistaken reason for his arrest and was told the bureau would apply for a security clearance for him. It was denied.

Wisam’s case does not even fall within the parameters of the 2013 circular rules on clearances, but the Civil Affair Bureau insisted on a clearance nonetheless.

The court ruling in his favor should also have gotten him his job back under Article 26 of the Court of Conduct Law that says: “if the criminal court issues a decision of acquittal or non-responsibility or dismissal of charges, or was charged with an infraction the order of restriction is void and the court will transfer the case file to the administration of the place of employment through the prosecutor’s office.”

Dating back to 2013, Shadi Ibrahim (alias) an employee in his 30s with the Damascus Municipality found a shortcut to lift the restriction order. After he was detained for 10 days then released in that year, he wrote  to the municipality and the prime minister’s office in vain asking for reinstatement. He spent three years unemployed, then discovered that volunteers with the Damascus Voluntary Troops, comprised of municipality employees, could get reinstated.

He applied for volunteer duty with the Damascus Municipality Personal Department in January 2016, and a month later got a document indicating that he was actively employed.

Husam Al-Sawaf, secretary of Decision Committee No. 1 at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor tasked with the interpreting labor law for public office, said the committee in 2014 aksed the Prime Minister’s office for an exemption from the rule about clearances in cases where the person was found not guilty, or was granted presidential pardon, or received a judicial order of non-responsibility or dismissal of all charges.

All 11 cases in this investigation were all denied security clearance despite being unlawfully detained.The law on restrictions is complex.

During the seven months when his case was winding through court, Saleh found that the process of restriction is governed by Disciplinary Court Law No. 7 of 1990 and by the Primary Labor Law No. 50 of 2004 regulating public office —  in addition to the opinion of the Decision Committee No.1) at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor a committee.

One section of the Disciplinary Court Law says: “An employee is considered under restriction for the duration of his arrest, and the restriction is considered void upon their release unless the authorities executes its right to uphold the restriction order if the restriction was a result of criminal conduct perpetrated during the course of his employment or as a result of it.”

Attorney Adnan Alrbye who specializing in administrative law says the two laws do not offer a legal description of the process of restriction as a result of detention due to security reasons, nor does it offer a timeframe for the procedure by which an employee is reinstated. He said , the disciplinary court laws do not compel employers to reinstate the employees after their release but instead gives them discretion about whether to reinstate.

Dr. Ukba Al-Ridaa, an expert in human resources and former dean of the National Institute for General Administration, says much of the confusion is retribution used to result purely from infractions at work. Security issues were added later – bringing in courts  which could decide to incriminate or acquit of wrongdoing.

The conflict in Syria led to huge increases in the number of arrests due to security reason, and employers prioritized implementation of the government circular of 2013 over the old labor laws.

Loss of Benefits 

Restriction doesn’t just mean difficulty working again. It results in loss of income, end of service bonuses, loss of back pay and loss of other benefits.

Sections of the Labor Law for Government Employees No. 50 are conflicting about whether those suspended and restricted, but then found to be wrongly detained, can collect pay they lost.

The Supreme Court weighed in on the subject in a 1994 case saying that a permanent employee arrested and subsequently released without being referred to the judiciary or without conviction was entitled to return to his job — unless he has been dismissed or exceeded the legal age. The court said in such a case the worker should get back pay and not suffer any lost time on his employment record.

However, employers have withheld back pay for restricted workers citing the minutes of the Supreme Council for Financial Oversight Session No. 7 for 1993 where it states, “The duration between the release of an employee from incarceration and reporting to the administration at the place of his employment and the date of issuance of a reinstatement order is not considered to be a period of active employment, therefore has no right for reimbursement for that period.”

Even if Saleh gave up hope on returning to his teaching job, with the age of retirement fast approaching he is at a loss on how he would be able to collect Social Security and benefits.

The Ministry of Labor at the end of 2017, took the position that restriction was not equivalent to such situations as reaching the sage of 60 or illness or even death that result in “end of service.”

In other words, once put on restriction workers cannot got back to their old jobs, or legally bet hired for similar positions – or retire and collect a pension or get Social Security, which is calculated as 21 percent of  basic salary multiplied by the number of years in service.

The Circular is Mightier Than the Law

Dr. Ukba Al-Ridaa, former dean of the National Institute for General Administration, said that the failure to execute judicial decisions in favor of reinstating employees “is due to weakness in the managerial process …or fear that this person is involved in a particular action.”

Haider Hassan, secretary general of labor affairs at the General Federation of Trade Unions, said “The issue of employees who were found not guilty, weighs heavily on the mind of the council, especially since the accused is innocent until proven guilty.”

He said the federation during its annual conference in December 2017 petitioned the head of state and public entities to reinstate employees if they are released, but this has not been applied in all cases.

Rakan Ibrahim, deputy minister of social affairs and labor, said; “Restriction is an incident and not a permanent state, which should be lifted as soon as the reason for restriction is resolved in accordance with the procedural regulations defined by the law.” He added in reference to the government circular, in addition to the law there are protocols which regulate public entities where reinstatement is conditional upon acquiring security clearance.

The Prime Minister’s Office had no comment. The press office refused to document the application for a response. And when we wrote to the e-mail address listed in the contact information on the official website for the prime minister, the message was not delivered and a response of technical failure was received.

Since 2012, attorney Adnan Alrbye has handled over 100 complaints filed by employees subjected to restriction trying to get their old jobs back.

He said circulars are sometimes issued out of necessity in the face of emergencies and they can take a different approach from the law. He stressed that now “without security clearance the employee will not be reinstated.”

Saleh knows that, though he still doesn’t understand why he is hefting boxes of vegetables in the market instead of teaching students in his classroom.

This investigation was completed with support from Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) www.arij.net and in partnership with Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ) under the supervision of editor Mokhtar Alibrahim. 

The post ¨RESTRICTED¨ appeared first on SIRAJ.