Syrian Women Shape National Dialogue on Peace, Justice and Recovery

A recent BBC World Service documentary (2 February 2026), part of the Global Women series, has renewed international attention to the role of Syrian women in the country’s political transition and recovery processes. Featuring an interview with Syria’s Minister for Social Affairs and Labour, Hind Kabawat, the documentary examines women’s contributions to rebuilding trust, advancing accountability, and supporting inclusive recovery.

The film also revisits the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) conferences convened in Idlib and Damascus in December 2025, supported by UN Women. These gatherings brought together women leaders, civil society actors, community representatives and policymakers from across Syria. Rather than stand-alone events, these convenings formed part of broader national  dialogue linking social cohesion, access to justice and economic recovery.

UN Women supported the Forum as part of its mandate to advance the Women, Peace and Security agenda in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and subsequent resolutions, which call for women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in peace and security processes.

As Syria continues efforts towards recovery and stabilization in 2026, discussions increasingly emphasize that sustainable peace and long-term recovery depend on women’s leadership and meaningful participation across governance, justice and economic planning processes.

From Dialogue to National Framework

In December 2025, participants gathered for the First National Forum on Advancing the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda in Syria, marking the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325. The Forum adopted a structured two-track approach designed to connect community perspectives with national-level discussions:

Sessions in Idlib focused on community realities, lived experience and local peacebuilding initiatives. Participants shared practical examples of mediation efforts, documentation initiatives, and community-based approaches to sustaining social cohesion.

Sessions in Damascus examined national policy frameworks, institutional mechanisms, and long-term recovery planning. Discussions emphasized the importance of ensuring that community-informed priorities are reflected in broader policy processes.

This dual structure reinforced the principle that inclusive national dialogue must be grounded in lived realities while contributing to coherent institutional approaches. Syrian national media covered the forum, highlighting women’s engagement in discussions around recovery and social cohesion.

At the opening of the Forum in Idlib, Minister Hind Kabawat noted that discussions on social cohesion and recovery would inform a paper to be shared with decision-makers, with the aim of translating dialogue into practical next steps.

“The discussions on social cohesion, transitional justice, and early recovery reflect pathways that women have helped shape and sustain,” the Minister stated to the Syrian News Agency (SANA).  “This conference will produce a paper to be shared with decision-makers, ensuring that dialogue translates into concrete steps toward a unified and modern Syria.”

 Recognizing Women as Leaders in Recovery

For more than a decade, Syrian women have frequently been portrayed primarily as victims of conflict. Forum discussions instead documented their leading role in preserving social cohesion, mediating disputes, documenting violations, maintaining local economic activity, and supporting community networks.

Participants emphasized that women are not solely beneficiaries of recovery processes, but active contributors to peacebuilding, institutional strengthening and economic resilience.

“From community-based dialogues in Idlib to policy discussions in Damascus, Syrian women demonstrated that peacebuilding must ensure that the lived realities of Syria’s women inform national frameworks,” said Ajay Madiwale, Syria Coordinator at UN Women. “Syria’s inclusive recovery will depend on women’s leadership in social cohesion, justice processes and economic recovery.”

Social Cohesion and Inclusive Governance

Participants underscored that restoring social peace requires comprehensive approaches that go beyond security responses. Discussions identified trust-building challenges between communities, between citizens and institutions, and within broader national narratives.

Divisive rhetoric, online incitement, and challenges facing professional media environments have contributed to polarization in recent years. Participants highlighted the importance of promoting inclusive narratives, strengthening conflict-sensitive media practices, and fostering dialogue across communities.

 Key priorities emerging from discussions included:

• Promoting equal citizenship and inclusive participation;
• Addressing hate speech and digital violence, including online harassment targeting women;
• Ensuring women’s representation in reconciliation and dialogue mechanisms;
• Supporting professional and conflict-sensitive media engagement.

These priorities reflect the broader Women, Peace, and Security framework, which recognizes social cohesion as foundational to sustainable peace.

 Transitional Justice as a Holistic Process

The Forum emphasized that transitional justice encompasses more than criminal accountability. It includes truth-seeking, reparations, institutional strengthening, and guarantees of non-recurrence, in line with international standards.

Participants highlighted structural challenges affecting access to justice, including documentation gaps and institutional capacity constraints. Women face additional barriers, including stigma, digital harassment, and gaps in protective mechanisms, which can limit their access to justice and participation in accountability processes. Despite these constraints, Syrian women continue to play a central role in documenting displacement, property disputes, enforced disappearances, and other conflict-related harms at the community level.

Forum discussions explored options for strengthening institutional mechanisms to support fairness, impartiality and transparency in justice processes while ensuring women’s full participation. Participants emphasized that inclusive justice processes contribute not only to accountability, but also to rebuilding trust between communities and institutions.

Economic Recovery that Includes Women

Economic recovery discussions underscored that reconstruction strategies must systematically address the needs and participation of women and girls from the outset. Throughout years of crisis, women have carried substantial economic responsibilities within households and communities, yet they continue to face unequal access to income, credit, infrastructure and labor protections.

Participants linked economic exclusion to heightened vulnerabilities, including early marriage, informal labor exploitation and economic dependency. Addressing these structural inequalities is central to long-term stability.

Recommendations emerging from the Forum included:

• Integrating women’s perspectives into economic policy planning;
• Expanding women’s representation in recovery and reconstruction processes;
• Increasing women’s access to finance and entrepreneurship support;
• Investing in care infrastructure to support women’s labor force participation;
• Ensuring that opportunities in technology and remote work extend to rural and hard-to-access areas for women and girls.

International partners and donors were recognized as important actors in supporting women-led enterprises, vocational training and long-term recovery frameworks.

Sustaining Momentum Beyond the Forum

The December 2025 Forum consolidated discussions across social cohesion, justice, and economic recovery into a structured national engagement anchored in women’s participation.  Its longer-term impact will depend on how institutions, policymakers, civil society actors and international partners continue to translate dialogue into sustained and inclusive processes.

As Syria’s recovery efforts continue in 2026, discussions reinforced a central principle of the Women, Peace and Security agenda: women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation is not an optional component of peacebuilding, but a prerequisite for sustainable peace and inclusive recovery.

Through ongoing dialogue, partnership and support to women-led initiatives, Syrian women continue to shape pathways toward a peaceful, just and resilient future.