ISIL, the Syrian Conflict, Sexual Violence, and the Way Forward: Syrian Women's Inclusion in the Peace Processes

This article focuses on the prevalence of sexual violence within the Syrian conflict and how these issues should be addressed in the peace process. In particular it criticizes the failure to include women in negotiations that would determine their future, despite international obligations to do so. While the pattern tends to be including “those with guns” in the peace talk, the author here emphasizes the importances of including a wide variety of voices at the table, in order to ensure sustainable measures for the prevention of gender based violence. Using the work of several NGOs and women’s organizations connected to the Syrian conflict, this author argues for a new approach to the peace process which would incorporate a gender perspective with the hope of reducing gendered-violence and discrimination post-conflict.