Women will play a key role in a new Syria, says minister 

The newly appointed head of the Women’s Affairs Office under the Syrian interim government says the administration will enable women to contribute to the rebuilding of the country, ravaged by more than a decade of conflict.

In an interview with Al Jazeera from Damascus on Sunday, Aisha al-Dibs said the government was committed to engaging Syrian women in social, cultural and political institutions, and recruiting qualified women in healthcare and education sectors.

“It is known to us all that the Syrian woman, historically, is a highly effective woman, able to lead across all fields. Today, we are in the process of bringing her back to this leading role in building Syria, a new country, the free country we all aspire for,” al-Dibs said.

She pledged to encourage women from all the Syrian provinces and ethnicities to participate in an upcoming national conference, which will discuss the future of the country.

Al-Dibs said the establishment of the Women’s Affairs Office, with her as its head, was in response to questions surrounding the role of the Syrian women in the new government.

Syria’s new rulers came into power earlier this month after the opposition forces, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), launched a lightning offensive from the northwestern province of Idlib in November, taking city after city from government forces with little resistance.

The opposition forces reached Damascus in the early hours of December 8 and announced the end of more than 50 years of the Bashar al-Assad family’s iron-fist rule over Syria.

Western countries are wrestling with their approach to HTS, a former al-Qaeda affiliate. HTS has been designated a “terrorist” group by many Western governments, despite the group moderating its rhetoric in recent months.

The United Nations Security Council in a statement earlier this week urged for the implementation of “an inclusive and Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process” that they said should meet the legitimate aspirations of all Syrians, protect all of them and “enable them to peacefully, independently and democratically determine their own futures”.

After overthrowing al-Assad, the opposition fighters freed thousands of Syrians from a network of prisons run by the former regime. Tens of thousands of people believed to have been taken into custody by the al-Assad government remain unaccounted for.

Al-Dibs also said her office will prepare a report on female detainees released from prisons and work on a comprehensive plan for their welfare. She added that she will seek the prosecution of jail officials accused of rights abuses inside the prisons.

She said the “spontaneous and disorganised efforts” by people who had joined the opposition forces in opening the prisons led to jail records being tampered with. As a result, the whereabouts of many female prisoners were lost.

“I will launch a phone number that is dedicated to the jailed women, whether for a long time or recently detained, in order to count them and work with them,” al-Dibs said.

“The formerly detained women need psychological support for rehabilitation. They need education, healthcare and legal protection as they prepare to file cases against their jailers.”

Al-Dibs, whose appointment was announced on Friday, is the first woman to hold a ministry in the new Syrian administration. She is recognised for her rights activism and humanitarian works. She earlier worked with a charity in the northwestern governorate of Idlib and in the Syrian refugee camps in neighbouring Turkiye.