Naharnet

Candlelight Vigil in Beirut in Solidarity with Syrian Women Refugees

A candlelight vigil was held Friday evening outside the national museum in Beirut in solidarity with Syrian women refugees, on the second anniversary of the Syrian uprising that has now morphed into a full-blown civil war.

Women, children and around 100 civil society activists took part in the rally, which was organized by ABAAD-Resource Center for Gender Equality, a Lebanese NGO working for “sustainable social and economic development in the MENA region through equality, protection and empowerment of marginalized groups, especially women.”

The event was backed by Oxfam International, Save the Children, and the International Rescue Committee.

ABAAD noted that as the “second anniversary of the painful events in Syria arrives, the numbers of refugees in Lebanon are increasing and their suffering is getting worse at all levels.”

“Syrian refugees are suffering the ugliest forms of exploitation and degradation, economically, socially and sexually,” ABAAD said.

And as the group stressed that it will stand by “these Syrian sisters and their families,” it called on NGOs and civil and international organizations to “detect, document and publish all the reports about cases of early and forced marriage and trafficking in women for the purpose of prostitution, in order to shed light on the case."

The statement described the exploitation of refugees in Lebanon and all countries of asylum as “a blot of shame on the forehead of humanity,” saying all parties must shoulder their responsibilities “towards this racism and sectarian incitement” and calling for “humanitarian solidarity with women and child refugees.”


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