Published : 07-03-2021
AGPS has documented the death of hundreds of Palestinian women and the enforced disappearance of several others in the embattled Syrian territories.
AGPS data indicates that as many as 487 Palestinian women and girls have died of war-related incidents since the outbreak of the Syrian conflict until February 07, 2021.
Statistics released by AGPS on the occasion of the International Women’s Day reveal that Palestinian refugee women who died all the way through Syria’s ten-year conflict make up 16% of the overall death toll.
The list includes 243 female refugees who died under shelling; 68 who died as a result of the blockade and medical neglect in Yarmouk camp; and 28 others who were fatally shot by snipers.
37 female refugees were, meanwhile, killed in blasts; 26 were gunned down; 26 drowned at sea; five female refugees were executed; 34 were tortured to death in Syrian prisons; and 20 others died of other causes, including murder, assassination, suicide, suffocation, health setbacks, and Israeli bullet fire.
As for the geographical distribution of the victims, Damascus topped the list with 163 female refugees, followed by Rif Dimashq, with 152 casualties. 66 others died in Daraa and another 20 women were pronounced dead in Aleppo.
Included on the list are also eight Palestinian women who died in Hums, one woman in Hama, and another in AlRaml refugee camp in Latakia.
At the same time, AGPS documented the secret detention of 110 Palestinian women and girls in Syria’s government prisons.
AGPS believes the numbers to be far higher as scores of casualties have gone undocumented after the Syrian authorities kept their names secret. Several families have also refused to reveal their relatives’ names over retaliation concerns.
According to affidavits by ex-detainees, Palestinian women and girls have been subjected to harsh psycho-physical torture tactics in Syrian penitentiaries, including electric shocks, heavy beating using iron sticks, and sexual abuse.
Such practices represent flagrant violations of the Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict of 1974, Article 5, which criminalizes all forms of torture and mistreatment against women and children.
Inherently a taboo misdemeanor in the MENA region, violence against women, be it sexual, physical, or verbal, has remained under-reported among the Palestinian refugee community in Syria, with reasons wavering between fear of retaliation, embarrassment, fear of punishment for those below the age of criminal responsibility, and distrust in law enforcement.
AGPS has documented the death of hundreds of Palestinian women and the enforced disappearance of several others in the embattled Syrian territories.
AGPS data indicates that as many as 487 Palestinian women and girls have died of war-related incidents since the outbreak of the Syrian conflict until February 07, 2021.
Statistics released by AGPS on the occasion of the International Women’s Day reveal that Palestinian refugee women who died all the way through Syria’s ten-year conflict make up 16% of the overall death toll.
The list includes 243 female refugees who died under shelling; 68 who died as a result of the blockade and medical neglect in Yarmouk camp; and 28 others who were fatally shot by snipers.
37 female refugees were, meanwhile, killed in blasts; 26 were gunned down; 26 drowned at sea; five female refugees were executed; 34 were tortured to death in Syrian prisons; and 20 others died of other causes, including murder, assassination, suicide, suffocation, health setbacks, and Israeli bullet fire.
As for the geographical distribution of the victims, Damascus topped the list with 163 female refugees, followed by Rif Dimashq, with 152 casualties. 66 others died in Daraa and another 20 women were pronounced dead in Aleppo.
Included on the list are also eight Palestinian women who died in Hums, one woman in Hama, and another in AlRaml refugee camp in Latakia.
At the same time, AGPS documented the secret detention of 110 Palestinian women and girls in Syria’s government prisons.
AGPS believes the numbers to be far higher as scores of casualties have gone undocumented after the Syrian authorities kept their names secret. Several families have also refused to reveal their relatives’ names over retaliation concerns.
According to affidavits by ex-detainees, Palestinian women and girls have been subjected to harsh psycho-physical torture tactics in Syrian penitentiaries, including electric shocks, heavy beating using iron sticks, and sexual abuse.
Such practices represent flagrant violations of the Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict of 1974, Article 5, which criminalizes all forms of torture and mistreatment against women and children.
Inherently a taboo misdemeanor in the MENA region, violence against women, be it sexual, physical, or verbal, has remained under-reported among the Palestinian refugee community in Syria, with reasons wavering between fear of retaliation, embarrassment, fear of punishment for those below the age of criminal responsibility, and distrust in law enforcement.
