Barriers to Survivor Reintegration - Reducing the Risk of Self-harm Through Transitional Justice Activities

Women who experience arbitrary detention, torture, and sexual violence during their detention are more at risk for self harm. In Syria, tens of thousands of women have been detained, tortured, and sexually assaulted to destroy communities and to break the public and political opposition to the authoritarian Syrian regime. Thousands of these women are still missing and presumed dead. The women who survive the experience have lasting physical, mental, and emotional effects that prevent them from returning to a normal life. 

While many women survive the detention, torture, and sexual violence, they are still at risk for other secondary harm, including self harm. Social isolation is one of the largest risk factors for self harm among survivors of detention. The isolation they experience has multiple causes, but much of it is related to shame and stigma associated with sexual violence. Due to the physical, mental, and emotional trauma these women have endured, and its lasting effects on their quality of life, many women feel shame and are self-conscious about their physical scars, trauma-related habits, anxiety, and emotions. This causes them to shy away from other people and avoid social and religious gatherings where they might be able to connect with other women who have similar experiences. Self isolation due to shame can also lead to conflict with their families, spouses, and friends, causing survivors to retreat further into isolating behaviors. 

Stigma-related isolation results from the common social understanding of what often happens to a person arbitrarily detained during militarised political conflicts. People assume that detainees have been sexually assaulted, which impacts perceptions of family honour and value. Ultimately, this means that a survivor’s needs upon release are often overshadowed by the community’s beliefs about what happened to them. Stigma related to sexual violence - whether actual or perceived -  deeply affects the survivor’s life, and women are disproportionately affected by the stigma of sexual violence. Women are often forced into isolation by family members who are afraid that they too will be stigmatised by the community or blamed for failing to protect the women in their family. There are also a percentage of families who don’t report their female relatives as missing if they are assumed to be detained, in an attempt to avoid the stigma of sexual violence associated with their families. 

All of these factors result in the isolation of survivors and disproportionate isolation of women survivors of detention. As daunting as the situation seems there is hope. Synergy’s founders have been working with community leaders and advocates in Syrian communities since 2013. Over the last 9 years we have developed, tested, and implemented programmes to redirect stigma away from survivors toward the perpetrators of these horrible crimes. These tested methods successfully help communities debunk the myths that fuel stigma and understand the harm caused by misplacing the blame and shame of sexual violence on survivors. Communities learn how to care for survivors, and create safe spaces and prevent isolation of women that leads to mental health breakdowns and self-harm. 

Synergy’s partner Amal Healing and Advocacy Center is also working to implement transitional justice programs that prepare women to lead and help communities integrate women, and survivors into their decision making processes to ensure that women feel included and that their agency is respected. 

Would you consider including Synergy for Justice in your year-end charitable giving? Your gift this holiday season will enable us to invest in Syrian women and ensure that they have supportive communities where they feel safe, their needs are met, and they experience belonging. 

Donate to Synergy for Justice-Chapel & York Foundation, Inc. (chapel-yorkusfoundation.org)