West Asia / Middle East

Within West Asia/Middle East, PeaceWomen is currently monitoring 6 countries including: Iraq, Iran, Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Kurdistan and Georgia. This section can be navigated by country.

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May 20, 2013 (Thomas Reutuers Foundation)
SYRIA: Stoking Fire: Addressing the Specific Needs of Female Syrian Refugees Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, more than a million people have fled, causing a refugee crisis of enormous magnitude. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), upwards of 3,000 Syrians a day have registered as asylum seekers in neighboring Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey. The lion's share of these refugees—between 300,000 and 400,000—have ended up in Jordan, with approximately 30 percent of the total settling in the Al Zaatari refugee camp and 70 percent moving into host communities throughout the country. UNFPA further estimates that three-quarters of the refugees are women and children.
May 18, 2013 (Albawaba News)
SYRIA: Fighting Sin With Sin, the Twisted Morals of Rapists in the Syrian Conflict “Wahhabist fighters have called the rape as ‘Jihad al-Nikah,' assuming women and girl as war prisoners, and raping them as permissible,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said, in the first official recognition of the phenomenon in Syria.
May 18, 2013 (The Journal of Turkish Weekly)
IRAN: Female Candidates Barred to Run for Iran Presidency A constitutional body in Iran has ruled that women cannot run in presidential elections scheduled for June 14.
May 3, 2013 (The Daily Star Lebanon)
SYRIA: The Role of Syria's Sisterhood Grows The Syrian uprising has given the Muslim Brotherhood a chance to emerge as an integral part of the opposition. Following years in exile, leadership crises and numerous political challenges, the group is now a central political player in the country. Interestingly, women are becoming an important part of the Brotherhood. Commonly referred to as the “Syrian Sisterhood,” these women are taking on a bigger role within the organization.
April 9, 2013 (New York Times)
ISRAEL: Compromise Is Proposed on Western Wall Praying Natan Sharansky, the chairman of the Jewish Agency, outlined new ideas on Tuesday for making the Western Wall a place where all Jews could pray comfortably, after tensions over rituals there peaked in recent months and caused discord between the Israeli authorities and Jewish leaders abroad.