By Dr. Abdel Aziz Tarekji
Investigative Journalist and Researcher on International Human Rights Violations
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International Women’s Day Between Commemoration and the Tragic Reality of War
Every year on March 8, the world marks International Women’s Day as an occasion to recognize the vital role women play in building societies and advancing the values of justice, equality, and human dignity. Yet in regions ravaged by armed conflicts, this day takes on a profoundly different meaning. It becomes a moment to remember the immense human cost that women have paid as a result of wars and violent confrontations.
In many parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East, women have not merely been witnesses to war; they have been among its most vulnerable victims. Between aerial bombardments, arbitrary detention, torture, and forced displacement, thousands of women find themselves at the center of human tragedies they neither chose nor helped ignite. Under such circumstances, speaking about honoring women must also become an ethical and legal call to shed light on the crimes committed against them in conflict zones.
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Women in Syria: Victims of Killing, Torture, and Enforced Disappearance
Documented human rights reports indicate that the forces of the now-defunct Assad regime in Syria have killed 25,126 women during the fourteen years of the Syrian revolution. Among them were 1,023 women who died under torture in detention centers, while 8,641 women remain victims of enforced disappearance.
These figures are not merely statistics; they represent a vast humanitarian tragedy linked to a systematic pattern of grave violations against women in the Syrian conflict. Thousands of women have been subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, extrajudicial killing, and enforced disappearance—crimes that continue to haunt Syrian society to this day.
Syrian women have paid a devastating price in a war they never chose. Thousands of mothers and daughters lost their lives as a result of indiscriminate bombardment targeting residential areas, while others were detained, tortured, or forcibly disappeared. Even today, thousands of Syrian families continue to live in anguish, unaware of the fate of their daughters who vanished in prisons and detention facilities.
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Crimes by Extremist Militias Against Women from Diverse Syrian Communities
Violations against women in Syria have not been perpetrated by a single party to the conflict. Various extremist militias and sectarian armed groups have also committed grave crimes against women from different components of Syrian society, including Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, and others, as well as women from different religious communities and sects.
These crimes included killings, kidnappings, and severe abuses against civilians based on sectarian or political grounds, constituting a flagrant violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. Regardless of who the perpetrators are, such acts remain legally and morally condemnable crimes. A victim remains a victim regardless of religious, ethnic, or political identity.
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Women in Gaza: Victims of Bombardment and a Devastating War
Within the broader tragedies experienced by women across the region, thousands of Palestinian women have also been killed during the war in the Gaza Strip as a result of intense bombardment targeting densely populated residential areas, hospitals, and shelters.
Thousands of women have found themselves victims of a devastating war: some perished beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings, while others lost their children, their families, and their homes. These large-scale civilian losses—particularly among women and children—raise serious legal and humanitarian questions about compliance with international humanitarian law, which obliges parties to armed conflicts to protect civilian populations.
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Women in Lebanon: Displacement and Fear Under the Weight of War
In Lebanon as well, women have paid a heavy price as a result of military escalation and recurring armed confrontations. Bombardments and attacks in border areas have caused civilian casualties, including women, and have triggered waves of displacement that disproportionately affect women and children.
Under such conditions, women often bear additional humanitarian burdens, resulting from the loss of family members, forced displacement, and the collapse of essential services. In this way, war becomes not only a moment of violence but a prolonged humanitarian ordeal affecting women’s social, economic, and psychological well-being.
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International Law and the Protection of Women in Armed Conflicts
Attacks against civilians during armed conflicts constitute a clear violation of international humanitarian law. The Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols establish the obligation to protect civilian populations, including women, and prohibit acts of violence against them.
Furthermore, Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions prohibits murder, torture, and cruel or degrading treatment against persons not actively participating in hostilities.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) also affirms in Article 3 that every individual has the right to life, liberty, and security of person, while Article 5 prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
The Rome Statute and International Criminal Accountability
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998) represents one of the most important international legal instruments for prosecuting the gravest crimes under international law.
Article 7 of the Statute establishes that murder, enforced disappearance, and torture, when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population, constitute crimes against humanity.
Similarly, Article 8 stipulates that directing attacks against civilians or launching military operations with knowledge that they will cause excessive civilian harm constitutes a war crime under international law.
These legal provisions make it clear that crimes committed against women during armed conflicts cannot be dismissed as mere collateral damage. Rather, they may constitute serious international crimes subject to prosecution before international courts.
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Women Between Delayed Justice and the Responsibility of the International Community
On International Women’s Day, discussions of tribute and celebration cannot be complete without remembering the women who have lost their lives or their dignity as a result of wars and armed conflicts.
From torture prisons in Syria, to the rubble of homes in Gaza, to displacement zones in Lebanon, the same tragedy repeats itself: women paying the price for conflicts they neither chose nor ignited.
Justice and human dignity are not merely moral aspirations; they are legal and ethical obligations that must be defended everywhere. Protecting women in armed conflicts and ensuring accountability for crimes committed against them remains a collective responsibility of the international community—if the world truly seeks to make International Women’s Day a genuine occasion for defending human dignity.