Continued displacement from conflict-affected areas in northeast Syria leaves women and girls in urgent need of safe spaces, shelter and reproductive health services, according to a Flash Update this week from UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
More than 70,000 people from the northeast remain displaced in Al-Hasakah, Ar-Raqqa and Aleppo governorates due to ongoing conflict in the area. Over 17,500 of the IDPs are women of reproductive age.
In addition to continued drops in temperature, women face hazardous living conditions and increased risks.
And without adequate health care and other services, internally-displaced women and girls are more likely to suffer gender-based violence.
“Women and girls face multiple protection and reproductive health risks in northeast Syria. The risk of gender-based violence is particularly high in camps such as Al Hol, where 96 percent of the camp population are women and children”, explained Karen Daduryan, UNFPA Representative in Syria.
UNFPA, through its implementing partners, operates six “safe spaces” for women and girls in the wartorn region, to ensure safety and support.
They provide essential services to address gender-based violence, including psychosocial support, case management, awareness raising, vocational training, and access to more specialized services such as mental health and reproductive healthcare.
The safe spaces serve newly-displaced women, as well as those living in host communities, and there are also mobile teams and clinics, taking treatment to where it’s needed most.
Since October last year, UNFPA and partners have provided reproductive health services, including safe childbirth, antenatal and postnatal care and family planning, to over 42,000 women of reproductive age. More than 39,000 services were provided to prevent, mitigate and respond to gender-based violence.
People living in 45 shelters and four IDP and refugee camps throughout the region were helped and between October and mid-January, UNFPA supported 40 deliveries.
Between March 2019 and mid-January, 189,463 services were provided in the Al-Hol camp alone.
Reproductive health and gender-based violence services, as well as sanitary napkins and dignity kits, have been provided, and literacy courses, in coordination with UNICEF.
“Due to generous support of multiple donors and dedicated work of partners, UNFPA has been able to reach out to most vulnerable women and girls with lifesaving and life-sustaining reproductive health and gender-based violence services.”
UNFPA cites a number of challenges to continued support for women in North East Syria. These include overcrowding in collective shelters, an insufficient supply of winterized clothes and limited specialized expertise in the provision of services to respond to gender-based violence.
Original source: UN News
Published on 23 January 2019