Funds for Syria need to be ringfenced for women, civil society groups say

International donors must ringfence some of their funding for Syria to support the needs of women caught up in the conflict, civil society groups say.

Syrian women’s organisations, attending a briefing before Thursday’s donor conference, also said they wanted to participate meaningfully in peace talks, rather than have their presence viewed as a box-ticking exercise. The women demanded to be respected as authority figures in an effort to stop the radicalisation of their children.

In a breakthrough move, a Syrian women’s advisory board has been established to advise the UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, throughout the peace process. Syrian women were left out of previous talks.

The donor briefing, co-hosted by the Norwegian embassy to the UK, UN Women, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Care International and Oxfam, brought together Syrian women to share their experiences and highlight the crucial role women play in supporting humanitarian response, and in peace building and conflict resolution. Acknowledgment of the specific needs of women and girls in war zones and disaster areas has been slowly rising within the international community, most notably in 2013, when leaders called for them to be put at the centre of all humanitarian programmes.

This followed a target set by the UN secretary general in 2010 to ensure that 15% of all UN-managed funds on peace building is dedicated to projects that specifically address women’s needs and promote gender equality.

However, a global study, published in October to mark the 15th anniversary of the landmark UN security council resolution on women in conflict, found the goal had been largely unmet.

Figures published last year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, showed that, in 2012-13, only 6% of aid to fragile states targeted supporting women’s needs and gender equality (pdf).

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the head of UN Women, who attended Wednesday’s briefing, said that if money is not prioritised, women go without “dignity packs”, which include items such as sanitary towels. She also said that lack of funding meant that “when women affected by violence need to be taken to a place of protection, there is not specific resources for that”.

Mlambo-Ngcuka said extra money could also be used to support women’s livelihoods because “if the queue [for resources] is long and men are in front, it could end up with all the money going to them”.

She added: “We are hoping that there is going to be a shift. We have invested a lot of time and energy liaising with sponsors of the [donor] conference.”

Mlambo-Ngcuka said an event last year to mark the launch of the global study had led to renewed commitments from UN member states to better support women in conflict and humanitarian settings. “We’ve also gone back to them to remind them of their commitments.”

The International Rescue Committee added its call for donors to commit new money to support the 2016-17 UN refugee and resilience plans and the Syrian humanitarian response plans.