English

By: Bassam AlKadi

No sooner had the ink dried recommendations made by “ the National Meeting on honor crimes”, which sparked a wave of optimism about the possibility of Syrian government has recently consider the Syrian women as a citizen , in practice with legal translation and institutional, not just date and statement ! until the Minister of Social Affairs which has over and over expressed its disapproval of raise this issue ,smiled and wondered about how this issue is important and this numbers of victims!

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Opening Syria women

Yes ! it is our land our country! Which we always we proud of it , which always able to overcome the pitfalls and loopholes occurred in his life ! they are men and women who opened the world¡¦s alphabets ,and paved the ground is a beacon!

Yes ! they are proud of who they are men and women share with one home! One dream with society , free from all forms of violence ! These are the people who now know they are now not only to meet one voice say :
Do not cover any religious crimes of honor ! dose not have any legal cover ! based on the cover of any customs or traditions ! the criminals all their forms and colors and denominated

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By: Noora Quraia

This oldest exchange in the history is influenced by supply and demand, the sale and purchase, and has many investors and a market (slave market), but the timing of entry into this market is mostly in the night! The peak of prosperity is in the summer, where indicators record imaginary profits!
There are no accurate statistics about the numbers of the clients, but they are always increasing...

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Written by :SWO

"Dardaa" is from a village in Dama which is attached administratively to Idlib's govenorate,who was related in her life to Lattakia.It has passed just somedays since slaughtering the young girl "Dardaa" has been done with one of the most terrible forms of killing in Syria,killing called "Honor crimes" which is protected by the Syrian laws"548-192 articles of Syrian punishments law".

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Written by:Wael Deeb

They were in an innocent infancy,and the open sky was a prison of them.They didn't know that the wind which caused their kits to fly ,will take their affair's funeral away in the absence of a just legislator.

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Prepared by: Syria Women Observatory (SWO)
Damascus 20/5/2007
Translate By: Angela Shoufi
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Contrary to what is adopted in the drafting of reports, we allow ourselves to put our view in a different way because of the limited time available for preparation of this report.

Preliminary:
As we adopt the concepts of human rights and citizenship as a basis for addressing women's issues, particularly the problem of violence and discrimination against women, we would like to stress that women's rights are universal and not subjected to restrictions or cultural legacies.

Therefore, we call for scrutiny of Paragraph / 2 / article / 28 /, and for restriction of the reservation area available to the signatories of the Convention, particularly by identification of certain items that the signatories can not reserve on.

Introduction:
Even though the Syrian government has ratified CEDAW since five years, what has been achieved towards conformity with it, in the legal texts, the practice or the public mental, is still much lower than expected.

Despite the Convention's priority over domestic law when it is ratified, this is not applied in Syrian courts or in the various legislative revisions. There are several reasons for that: the convention did not widely disseminated, and several bodies block this possibility and promote a wrong concept of patriotism based on "localism".

In a study prepared by the Federation of Women (2005), the Syrian government has acknowledged, for the first time, that the violence against women is a widespread phenomenon (one from four women), but this recognition did not lead to serious interest in the problem nor to search for appropriate effective mechanisms to eliminate it.

It has not been recognized that women's issues require a radical legal change. These issues are still politically endorsed, and the frank and open talk is still considered as a kind of direct compatibility with external political pressure. Also, the essential role of civil society organizations in promoting awareness of anti-violence against women and in creating effective mechanisms to counter the domestic violence and to protect the harmed women has not been recognized yet.

Note:
The national report on what has been achieved regarding CEDAW Convention has not been introduced to the public debate, and it was constricted to some governmental and non-governmental quarters. So was the matter regarding the report of NGOs which was prepared by few organizations working on women's issues, and a broad spectrum of relevant civic organizations had not been involved in the preparation of this report. However, both reports are available to the public after submission to the concerned committee. Thus, the national report represents the Syrian government, and the "shadow report" represents those who had prepared it only.
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Full Report (PDF)..

By: Dalal Kouaidr
Blood Cancer Phobia and its Relation with Psychological Trauma
In this research , the researcher talks about the rising fear from cancer in general and its correlation with psychological trauma .
In the outset , the researcher explains broadly and fully the true nature of the disease widely known as cancer . She provides the reader with an explicit definition of cancer ( blood cancer in specific ) , its reasons , kinds and different theories of its treatment . Then , the researcher knocks the toll of another topic which is phobia . She renders a definition for the word phobia , its roots , sorts , reasons , theories explaining it , causes , elements affecting it , symptoms
and ways of protection and treatment.
After backing the reader with the full idea behind the word phobia , the researcher indulges herself in presenting her reader the topic of cancer phobia . She defines cancer phobia , sorts out its nature and causes . In addition , she passes through the different stages of fear a phobic person inflicted with cancer experiences in his / her trauma . For instance , she discusses how the patient suffering from cancer suffers agonies due to his / her excessive fear of the recurring image of death and / or pain that haunts different episodes of their daily life .
In the end , she talks about the psychological trauma , its features , causes , the theories explaining it . Also , she ponders about cancer as a direct cause or as being a trauma in itself and the different methodes that can be used to relief those inflicted with a trauma .
On the practical level , the researcher figures out the following hypotheses which are :
* The intense psychological trauma has a correlative relation with cancer ( in case of cancer patients ) and this relation is a positive one * There is a difference between those who are inflicted with blood cancer and those who are not in what concerns the measurement of fear and phobia of cancer in general .
* There is a difference between the male inflicted with blood cancer and the female ones in determining the measure of cancer phobia .
* There is a difference in case of those males and females who are not blood cancer patients in defining the measure of cancer phobia .
* In case of those who are not inflicted with blood cancer , the difference pours for the benefit of the females because females give expression for their passions and feelings in a way that surpasses males .
* There is a difference between males inflicted with blood cancer and the females on what concerns the measurement of the intensity of the psychological trauma and the difference points for the benefit of females because females are more compassionate whereas males are more rational .

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Translate By: Doaa Nabhan
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Full text (Arabic)

by: Thanaa Assabaa
Who has granted such sainthood to the habits? Do we lack to sacred things to canonize behaviors and habits which have been existed for a long time ago? These are Questions put forth by a group of people who aspire to a better society and seek to formulate more appropriate habits to their culture and thinking. They are belonging to a village on the outskirts of the desert called Sadad. The beginning was at a website.

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BY: Rima Flaihan
On 1/8/2006 it‘s been dissolved Governing Council Care Association in Alsueda imprisoned by sudden and unjustified causes and without any prior warning! And after wrangling lasted four months between the Governing Council and the prison administration, in connection with financial irregularities Spending, Governing Council did not accept the award for not asserted at the time! .. The result was a solution Governing Council instead of solving problems!

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By: Rima Fleihan
"a member in SWO Team"
8/1/2008

The Syrian outstanding TV serial "tale of love", in a beautiful and attractive manner, deals sensitive social issues. It presents strong and influential images of life diversity.

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By: Lawyer Abdullah Ali
2008-03-22

Sexual relationship between man and woman is important and essential in the marital life. It is often the main reason for the success or the failure of the marriage. Despite the importance of this relationship and its impact on the future of marriage, which is formulating the code ensuring the continuation of the rapprochement between the parties and the non-aversion to each other, legislation has fallen short of this importance of the sexual relationship and its impact on marital life and the future of marriage. On the contrary, we can say that the legislative failure has associated with the presence of certain legal provisions concerning sexual offences which harmed the freedom of wife in the relationship with her husband and facilitated the violation of her body's sanctity without fear or deterrent.

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By: Ayham Asad

"Achieving high rates of economic growth and equal distribution of the national income and the social productive wealth will lead to some kind of economic balance between social ranks, including women, which ensures a minimum social justice and affecting the women ".

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Bassam Al-Qadi
February 22, 2008

I had prepared some questions prior to the discussion with Marlene Bertrand, a Canadian authority on battling violence against women, but her wide experience easily outstripped them as the dialogue drifted towards an open, public discussion addressing all aspects of violence against women. This seemed a natural progression, considering that Bertrand has spent more than two decades fighting violence against women both in and outside of Canada.
In Canada, she has played a central role in transforming the public’s viewpoint towards violence against women as a private, familial matter to an issue which concerns the society as a whole. She was unequivocal in expressing her views during what was an enjoyable dialogue, translated with our thanks by Pegatha Taylor, a consultant from the Canadian Embassy, who also participated actively in the discussion. Taylor also played a vital role in the success of the workshop which was undertaken by the National Association for the Development of the Role of Women.

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Bassam El-Kadi

Will the appetite of those who defend segments 548 & 192 of the Syrian penalty law ever be fulfilled?! Will the appetite for drinking Syrian Women’s blood ever be satisfied in those who still defend this killing once by the name of Islam, and another by the name of Christianity, and a third by the name of customs and traditions?! Will it ever have enough in the “male” ministers of the government who stands still watching this blood bath and involving in it by their silence and rejection of change?! Will it get enough in those hypocrites who say they defend “manors” while keeping the lowest manor of them all, a human killing another human?!

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Bassam El-Kadi

Several days ago, Mohammad Saleem Kefaya slew his sister Yasmine (Jasmine) Kefaya in Edleb using a knife! Slicing her throat on the temple of “honor”, and went straight to the police station to surrender himself shouting: “I washed away the shame!” assured that he’ll walk out free in several months! , or maximally in two years!

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