毫无疑问，叙利亚正经历着自二十世纪初现代出生以来最严重的危机。联合国最近宣布，叙利亚冲突是世界目前面临的最大的人道主义和和平与安全危机。
自2011年3月发生冲突以来，已有100000多人死亡，其中一半人被是平民。叙利亚已成为世界上被迫流离失所的主要国家，约有40%的叙利亚冲突前居民背井离乡。境内流离失所者650万多人，另有250万名登记难民，主要逃往邻国黎巴嫩、伊拉克、约旦和土耳其。然而，随着成千上万的人等待登记，而许多人选择不登记，难民的人数要高得多。
尽管几乎所有的叙利亚人口都受到冲突的影响，联合国估计有一千三百万多人急需人道主义援助。叙利亚的青年和儿童因营养不足、接种不足和缺乏教育而付出了最沉重的代价。
此外，随着该国安全局势的恶化，叙利亚妇女越来越多地受到冲突各方的侵犯。妇女已成为这场可怕冲突后果的主要受害者。成千上万的平民妇女在冲突中丧生，许多其他人被强奸、逮捕、折磨、劫持为人质，经常被用作人体盾牌。性暴力也被系统用来对付叙利亚妇女在这个冲突作为一种手段来恐吓他们和他们的家人。
It is without a doubt that Syria is currently passing through the most critical crisis since its modern birth in the beginning of the twentieth century. The U.N. recently declared the Syria conflict the biggest humanitarian and peace and security crisis currently facing the world as the fighting enters its fourth year.
Since the onset of the conflict in March 2011, there have been more than 100,000 fatalities half of whom are believed to be civilians. Syria has become the world's leading country of forced displacement with around 40 per cent of Syria's pre-conflict population uprooted from their homes. There are more than 6.5 million people internally displaced and another 2.5 million registered refugees who fled mainly to the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Turkey. The number of refugees, however, is much higher as hundreds of thousands more await registration while many others choose not to register.
Though nearly all of Syria's population is affected by the conflict, the U.N. estimates that over thirteen million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Syria's youth and children are paying the heaviest toll with acute shortage in nutrition and vaccination and lack of education.
Moreover, with the deteriorating security situation in the country, Syrian women have become increasingly exposed to a range of violations from the different parties in the conflict. Women have become the main victims of the consequences of the dreadful conflict. Thousands of civilian women have been killed in the conflict and many others have been raped, arrested, tortured, taken as hostages and often used as human shields. Sexual violence has also been systemically used against Syrian women in this conflict as a means to terrorize them and their families.
Despite all these atrocities and crimes committed against them, Syrian women remain outside the politicians’ agendas who continue to ignore their rights especially to full participation and equal citizenship. Even before the war, and although Syria has ratified a number of international conventions including CEDAW, women’s participation in general and in political life in particular has been extremely low. The social values of the society and its negative view of women have led to the exclusion of women from most decision-making positions all over the Syrian social, economic and political life.
Challenges Facing the Coalition
Apart from the external constraints caused by the Syrian crisis, the Coalition of Syrian Women for Democracy faces a number of challenges that must be considered and overcome. These include finding and agreeing on common goals and means. The following strategic plan will clarify a clear focus and set realistic objectives on what the Coalition has been formed to accomplish. Nevertheless, the Coalition needs to form a coordination committee that will have to deal with a number of issues that if unaddressed might weaken the Coalition. The Coordination Committee needs to form a center of operations to deal internally with the members of the Coalition and externally with the partners, donors and other relevant actors. The Committee needs to work on boosting the motivation of the members and develop clear methods and mechanisms to resolve conflicts within the Coalition. Members need also to have a sense that each one is doing their fair share of the workload and contributing to what is expected of them to achieve the Coalition’s goal.
The Coalition, through its statutes and bylaws, must also ensure that there is a
