future now”

Peacebuilding priorities
When stating what should be prioritized in peacebuilding
in Syria today, the women activists listed actions that
can be divided into two categories: chronological steps
concerning issues like ceasefires, negotiations, and transitional
justice, and processes addressing the crisis caused
by the ongoing fighting and rebuilding of Syria.
Chronological steps
1. Stopping the bloodshed
An unconditional cease to the ongoing fighting in Syria.
Currently, all peace and state-building activities have been
paused because of the ongoing violence. Many of the women
activists argued that stopping the war requires that the
international community have the political will and commitment
to find a political solution. In addition, funding
from outside governments and other actors supporting
the fighters inside Syria must stop.
Once the bloodshed has stopped, the process of negotiation
can begin.
2. Holding inclusive negotiations
These negotiations should include all Syrian conflicting
and non-conflicting parties, free from the interference of
any regional or international agendas in favour of a particular
warring party, and be built in an atmosphere of
trust and commitment to reaching a peaceful solution.
Furthermore, a considerable number of women activists
stated that the international community must be tasked
with making these negotiations possible. That is, to stop
the aforementioned outside support to the different warring
parties and put pressure on these parties to participate
in negotiations. Some of the activists with substantial
political experience emphasized that future negotiations
should be based on the Geneva 1 Communique 9 because
this has already received international consensus.
Women who are influential agents themselves and not
mere tokens of the various parties should be present at
the negotiation table. The international community must
impose a women’s quota on the negotiating parties. In addition,
the negotiations should include representatives of
civil society who will be independent from the negotiating
political powers and can thus represent the interests of
the people.
A number of the women activists also highlighted that
the negotiations would benefit from the contributions of
local leaders and peacebuilders who have emerged and
been successful in their communities during the conflict.
Also, local and regional peace talks and settlements can be
launched simultaneously in different parts of the country.
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3. New social contract, justice & reconciliation
For the peace process to be successful, negotiations must
result in a so-called new social contract in Syria. This
means amending the constitution as well as the laws, including
the Syrian personal status laws, to rid them from
discrimination so they clearly guarantee equal rights for
individuals from all social, ethnic and religious groups, regardless
of their gender. Furthermore, women’s human
rights should be explicitly adopted and mechanisms put
in place to make sure that these rights are implemented.
The women activists also stressed that the new contract
should pave the way for a democratic and pluralistic form
of governance and guarantee separation of powers and
accountability. Some of them favoured a decentralized
form of governance where geographical regions enjoy a
relative degree of autonomy, while others wanted a focus
on equal citizenship and unity. This not to suggest that
decentralization and equal citizenship were thought of
as being mutually exclusive, but merely how they choose
to describe the system they preferred in a new constitution.
Those who voiced support for a decentralized system
tended to come from geographical regions and/or Syrian
groups that have suffered significantly from decades of
state discrimination.
In addition to stopping the direct violence in the country,
other forms of structural and cultural violence should
be handled early on in the peace negotiations. Unless the
peace settlement addresses the injustices and human
rights violations of the current conflict as well as those
of the past, the agreement itself will be in jeopardy. Detainees
should be released and the fate of those kidnapped
or forced to disappear be made known. As stated before,
accountability is fundamental, and no perpetrator should
have impunity. The activists repeatedly proposed the use
of tools and mechanisms of transitional justice (as in
truth-finding missions, the return of the displaced, and
reparations) as the way forward to restore citizens’ dignity
and to reconcile the country with its past 10. .
Processes of crisis handling & rebuilding
As most of the women activists approached peacebuilding
as a long-term and accumulative endeavour, they similarly
identified long-term and accumulative processes that
need to start immediately and continue in parallel with
the steps detailed above and beyond.
1. Humanitarian aid
Most urgent is responding to the dire humanitarian crisis
inside Syria and in the refugee camps and areas in neighbouring
countries. The Syrian state (assuming that there
would be one that was representative of the Syrian people
and lived up to its civic responsibilities 11 ) and the international
community have responsibilities to step up to,
with over 12 million people in need of humanitarian assistance
12 .
2. Building educational systems
Responding to the aggravating educational crisis is crucial.
Displacement and the armed conflict have left millions
of children with very little to no basic education,
making them an easy target for recruiters from the different
fighting groups.
3. Activating and strengthening civil society
A strong, active civil society is imperative for the success of
any peacebuilding in Syria, and therefore, Syrian civil society
needs to receive more attention from all stakeholders,