As the international community, regime, and opposition parties prepare for the upcoming Geneva II negotiations, Syrian citizens—particularly women, who are actively fighting for peace in their country—must be directly engaged in defining the outcome. From July to September 2013, Inclusive Security and the Center for Civil Society and Democracy in Syria (CCSDS) surveyed 110 women activists living and working inside Syria to document their views on international efforts to broker peace and perceived barriers to women’s full and meaningful participation. This project stemmed from a meeting convened by Inclusive Security, International Civil Society Action Network, and Nonviolent Peaceforce, in July 2013, to discuss options for an inclusive peace process in Syria. A full report of the meeting is online. Special thanks to ICAN and NP for their assistance in conceptualizing the survey.
These survey respondents do not represent the entirety of Syrian society (see a demographic breakdown on page 10). They are, however, a diverse sample of the thousands of brave leaders who are currently holding communities together under dire circumstances—and who will be vital contributors to Syria’s peaceful and democratic future.