The Syrian Feminist Lobby rejects Disgraceful Circular No. 17 issued by the Minister of Justice, which falls within the authority’s broader policy of marginalizing Syrian women solely because they are women.
This circular reduces Syrian women to mere vessels for pregnancy and tools for reproduction, and strips motherhood—humanly and legally—of its substance, turning the mother into nothing more than a transient caregiver in an individual’s life. It relegates Syrian women to marginal beings with no voice or opinion in matters concerning their children’s lives, to the extent that even the most distant male relative is deemed more entitled and closer to the child than their own mother.
While other nations elevate and protect the mother’s legal status—recognizing her as the most qualified to safeguard her children’s best interests—we are instead regressing, taking steps backward even from the previous discriminatory law. The new law abolishes the role of the Sharia judge in examining each case individually and appointing a guardian based on competence and eligibility.
How can a Minister of Justice strike at the very foundations of equality, fairness, and justice, and demean women in this manner, blatantly disregarding the international conventions Syria has signed and the Constitutional Declaration that explicitly guarantees equality?
This is yet another dangerous indicator of the erosion of women’s rights under the current authority, and constitutes an unjust and discriminatory violation of both women’s and children’s rights.
Under this circular, women are denied any legal capacity to meet even the most basic needs of their children related to travel, migration procedures, or passport issuance—in a country emerging from war, during which women bore the primary responsibility for children and families after breadwinners were lost.
This circular must be revoked immediately. It insults all Syrian women and represents a grossly discriminatory measure that will have negative repercussions on Syrian society, particularly on women and children. As Syrian women, we will not accept this excessive trampling of our rights and our role in society and the state. We will not allow one act of discrimination after another to be imposed, only to find ourselves later demanding the return of regressive laws from a bygone era—laws we once struggled against because they would then appear less unjust than what is being enacted today—at a time when we are supposed to be rebuilding the state and restoring rights.
