Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies Task Force Winter 2017 ADVISOR Professor Paula Holmes-Eber EVALUATOR Ambassador Ryan Crocker COORDINATOR Freeman Halle EDITOR Lauren Dichter ASSISTANT EDITOR Phoebe Vollers AUTHORS Jack Callahan Sol Chung Dylan O’Connor MariamSena Demeke Ceresa Eberhardt Christine Lu Rachel Miller Yiwei Qian Connor Quinn Allisia Rangel Ean Tatum David Vo Phoebe Vollers Ho Ying Kwok II III TABLE OF CONTENTS Contributors II Table of Contents IV Glossary VI List of Illustrations VIII Introduction X Executive Summary XIV Part A: Context 2 1. The Roots of the Syrian Crisis 4 2. The Syrian Refugee Crisis: IDPs 18 Part B: Situation in Syria 28 3. Women’s Roles, Political Rights and Gender-Based Violence 30 4. Syrian Economy: Impacts on Women and Children 52 5. Women and Children’s Health 74 6. Women and Children’s Education 98 Part C: Situation in Refugee Host-Countries 110 7. Demographic Analysis: Syrian Refugees 112 8. Responses to the Syrian Crisis: Key Host Governments 120 9. Women's Political Rights and Gender-Based Violence in Host-Countries 130 10. Economic Conditions for Refugee Women and Children 144 11. Women and Children’s Health in Host-Countries 164 12. Women and Children’s Education in Host-Countries 176 Part D: 13. Gap Analysis 190 IV Part E: Policy Recommendations 210 Bibliography 220 V GLOSSARY 3RP Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women CFF Concessional Financing Facility CIA Central Intelligence Agency COI Commission of Inquiry DGMM Directorate General of Migration Management GBV Gender Based Violence GED General Education Development GOI Government of Iraq GOJ Government of Jordan GOL Government of Lebanon GOT Government of Turkey GWU General Women’s Union (of Syria) HRP Syria Humanitarian Response Plan ID Identification IDP Internally Displaced Person ILO International Labor Organization IRC International Rescue Committee ISIL Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant JRP Jordan Response Plan KR-I Kurdistan Region of Iraq KRG Kurdistan Regional Government LCRP Lebanon Crisis Response Plan MIPEX Migration Integration Policy Index MOH Ministry of Health MOU Memorandum of Understanding MSF Médecins San Frontiéres NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NGO Non-Governmental Organization NLG No Lost Generation Initiative OCHA Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs PKK Kurdish Worker’s Party (Turkish Kurdish Party) RACE Reaching All Children with Education in Lebanon RAIS Refugee Assistance and Information System SARC Syrian Arab Red Crescent SCPR Syrian Center for Policy Research VI SGBV Sexual and Gender Based Violence SUTP Syrians under Temporary Protection SYP Syrian Pound (Currency) TEC Turkish Temporary Education Centers UN United Nations UNCDF United Nations Capital Development Fund UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women UNOCHA United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs UNPA United Natural Products Alliance UNSC United Nations Security Council USD US Dollars VAW Violence Against Women WFP World Food Programme WHO World Health Organization WHO EMRO World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean YPG Peoples Protection Unit’s (Syrian Kurdish Forces) VII LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS § Figure 1.1: Topography of Syria § Figure 1.2: Political map of Syria § Figure 1.3: Religious demographics of Syria § Figure 1.4: Ethno-religious composition of Syria § Figure 1.5: The Sykes-Picot Agreement § Figure 1.6: Timeline of the Syrian civil war 2011-2012 § Figure 2.1 IDP demographics and Living Situation within northern Syria, OCHA § Figure 2.2 IDP demographics Within southern Syria, OCHA § Figure 2.3 IDP demographics and living situation within Syria’s Aleppo Governate, OCHA § Figure 2.4 IDP demographics and living situation within Syria’s Idleb Governate, OCHA § Figure 2.5 IDP demographics and living situation within Syria’s Hama Governate, OCHA § Figure 5.1: Use of water as a weapon by major combatants § Figure 5.2: Prevalence of food insecurity § Figure 5.3: Map of Syrians in need of healthcare from December 2016 § Figure 6.1: Change in enrollment in public education § Figure 6.2: Syrian education statistics § Figure 6.3: Barriers to education in Syria § Figure 6.4: Aid distribution comparison between countries and Syria § Figure 7.1 Syrian refugees in Jordan by Governorate § Figure 10.1: Key economic indicators of women’s participation in refugee hosting economies, 2016 § Figure 10.2: Female-headed and widowed households in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Turkey, 2016 § Figure 10.3: Syrian refugee population/households living below the poverty line, 2016 § Figure 10.4: Overview of child labor in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Turkey VIII § Figure 10.5: Employment by sector as a percentage of total employment in Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, 2009 § Figure 12.1: UNHCR regional statistics chart § Figure 12.2: Percentage of refugee children in Jordan and Iraq enrolled in camps and host communities § Figure 12.3: Percentage of children in Lebanon enrolled in primary and secondary education § Figure 13.1: Gap breakdown IX INTRODUCTION The Issue The Syrian civil war has grown to be the defining humanitarian crisis of the early 21st century. What began as peaceful protests in 2011 has since evolved into a protracted and bloody conflict, claiming over 400,000 lives1 and triggering the largest refugee exodus since World War Two. Among those affected by the crisis, Syrian women and children are counted among the most vulnerable to the social, political, and economic fallout. Persecution by both state and non-state actors alike has forced many to flee their homes to seek refuge in other regions of Syria or as refugees in another country. Those who flee may face persecution and limited access to legal or economic protections in host countries, while those who stay are subject to the continued threats of torture, sexual violence, and unreliable access to basic needs. While many studies have focused on the short-term needs of Syrian refugees, there is a shortage of comprehensive analysis being done on the long-term impacts on women and children. Without trying to downplay the importance of providing short-term support to the Syrian people during the ongoing crisis, this report intends to open the discussion of Syria’s reconstruction and how this can be done in a way that is inclusive and equitable for women and children. The most unfortunate reality of this crisis is that innocent civilians are suffering the often-fatal consequences of both state and non- state actors’ decisions. Therefore, the crisis will undoubtedly shape the nation of Syria’s collective psyche for decades—or even centuries—to come. It is our hope that this report gives the UN, Syria, and the international community insight and direction; the goal is for Syria to move forward with a comprehensive and realistic plan for post-crisis reconstruction, especially as it concerns the status of women and children. Why Women and Children? Centering on women and children underlines the importance of supporting this population as both a worthy humanitarian cause, as well as a vital step towards the redevelopment of Syria. Women and children are also a particularly vulnerable segment of any conflict-ridden population, making them targets of sexual and psychological violence, exploitation, and social and economic marginalization. This has been true of every conflict in human history, with notable examples being the Bosnian war, in which somewhere between 20,000 and 60,000 women were raped2, the Rwandan genocide, and more recent conflicts across Africa.3 The same is true of the Syrian civil war, in which sexualized violence has been deployed on a mass scale by government troops4 as well as by opposition and terrorist groups. In addition to direct X violence, the fallout of armed conflict tends to impact women and children more heavily. Outbreaks of disease which stem from the destruction of healthcare services and sanitation infrastructure tend to target children the most, while women are often passed up for economic opportunities or forced to undertake exploitative work. In particular, female-headed households have experienced the dual impacts of wartime resource scarcity and the social precariousness of being without a male figure head in a society that is traditionally patriarchal. This report focuses exclusively on women and children within Syria and the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq. Despite the fact that most Syrians refugees have been displaced within Syria’s borders and the neighboring countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey, much of the international community’s attention has been on those refugees who try to cross over into Europe or seek resettlement in North America and this is drawing attention and resources away from the core issues. The UNHCR’s 3RP report puts the figures at 2.76 million refugees in Turkey alone, with an additional 4.81 million displaced to Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt.5 Within these host countries a mere 10% of refugees reside in officially designated camps, while the remainder have moved into urban and peri-urban areas. This poses a multitude of new challenges to aid agencies and host-country responses, where integration into existing systems has placed immense burdens on the administrative and financial resources of the country. This is to say nothing of the population of the roughly 6.3 million IDPs still residing within Syria, where aid and reconstruction efforts have been patchy or non-existent due to the ongoing hostilities in several regions of the country. To establish a basis for comparison with the country’s current conditions, the report begins with a pre-crisis analysis of women and children’s situation in Syria with regards to rights, economic roles, healthcare, and education.