UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen on Tuesday denounced violations and attacks against Syrian women following devastating earthquakes in the country and neighboring Turkey.
Speaking at a United Nations (UN) Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, Pedersen said Syrian women have been at the forefront of providing aid to their fellow citizens on the front lines, but on the other hand, are also more exposed to situations of vulnerability that resulted in sexual violations and aggression.
“In times of real vulnerability, I have heard reports of rape, assault and harassment of women. Women in need of postpartum care are not receiving the necessary care and adequate shelter. Girls and boys are especially vulnerable during these events. Disturbing and confusing, ( …) when adults are busy elsewhere and many schools are closed or without conditionsPedersen denounced.
At least 50,000 people have died in the earthquakes in both countries, including about 6,000 in Syria, mostly in the northwest, and tens of thousands of people remain missing and hundreds of thousands displaced, according to the UN.
The earthquakes, according to Pedersen, occurred when the needs of the Syrian people “were greatest, when services were scarcest, when the economy was at its lowest point and when infrastructure was already badly damaged”, affecting many areas where refugees lived and internally displaced persons and in areas with severe war damage.
Source: DN
