Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Damascus, SANA – The concepts of protection and the principles of humanitarian work and the national strategy for protecting women and children figured prominently in the discussions of a conference held Sunday in Damascus.
The conference, organized by the Ministry of Social Affairs, is centered on discussing issues related to protection of Women and Children against abuses in wartime.
Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi highlighted in his speech that women in Syria have always enjoyed a high rank in society, illustrating that the Syrian women play key role in the decision making process and are part of the legislative, executive and judicial authorities.
“One of the Syrian government’s top priorities is providing protection to women and children,” al-Halqi said, adding Syria has achieved major strides in eliminating violence and sexual abuse exercised against women and children.
He cited laws on combating rape, honor killing and human trafficking crimes, pointing out that Syria is member of international treaties on women’s rights and combating discrimination against them.
He went on saying that the government is going ahead with building an effective social protection system that will mainly include women and children and setting up mechanisms to empower them in the post-war stage.
For her part, Minister of Social Affairs Kinda al-Shammat revealed that the Ministry will open a unit for protection of women and children tomorrow in cooperation with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Chief of the UNHCR mission in Syria Tareq al-Kurdi underscored the importance of prioritizing issues of protection in the humanitarian response plan signed with the Syrian government.
In the course of the meeting, Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Syria Hana Singer read the message of UN Secretary-General on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, stressing particularly that need that preventing violence against women be everybody’s responsibility through combating the culture of discrimination and stereotypes, and enacting legislations that prevent exploitation of women.
Rasha Milhem/Haifa Said
