The Syrian Feminist Lobby has condemned those involved in the "dirty crime" of human trafficking involving Syrian refugees recently discovered to be operating out of Lebanon.
The lobby stressed the necessity of urgent efforts to help victims and protect Syrian refugee women in Lebanon demanding the Lebanese government to track down those involved in the crime and ensure the protection of Syrian women on its soil.
It called on legal experts in Lebanon to closely follow the case to avoid media blackout and to track which media platforms dealt unjustly with the suffering of the victims.
The lobby’s public relations coordinator, Syrian writer and activist Rima Flihan, told Zaman al-Wasl that the lobby had contacted Lebanese nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) because the issue needs to be addressed by legal experts and organizations in Lebanon in order to bring about a solution.
Flihan pointed out that “such a dirty crime and human trafficking networks have long existed in Syria and the region, but they did not (often) attract as much attention as they [are] now.”
“Activists in women rights have always demanded the [tracking] of these crimes and protection of victims for a long time,” she added.
Speaking on the inefficiency of the Lebanese judicial system, Flihan said: “the civil Lebanese community is an active and effective actor in Lebanon and hopefully it will pressure the authorities to track down [perpetrators] of the crime and will pressure media to follow on with the case.”
Flihan stressed that the “urgent thing now is to protect the victims and support them legally and psychologically and secure their safety.”
The lobby demands “the urgent protection of the victims and securing legal representation in conjunction with media and civil activity to hold the [perpetrators] accountable for the crime,” Flihan said, calling for “a necessity to pressure UNHCR to secure and provide better living conditions for the refugees under any legal status.”
Syrian Feminist Lobby is an independent non-partisan political group committed to the equal representation of women and men in political decision-making processes in Syria and on all levels.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
