In areas under de facto control of extremist Islamist groups, women accused of illicit sexual activities have reportedly been targeted for killing.19 4. Availability of State Protection In addition to general concerns over the precarious state of the rule of law in Syria and its impact on citizens’ ability to obtain state protection generally,20 women’s ability to seek protection from the state21 is undermined by prevailing traditional and patriarchal attitudes towards the role of women in society,22 including within the judicial sector;23 legal provisions minimizing penalties for the killing on the basis of “honour” by male relatives;24 and widespread and chronic corruption within the police and judiciary.25 Furthermore, the existence of significant criminal sanctions for women engaging in sexual relationships outside of marriage 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 “For example, in March the COI reported that in 2016 Jabhat Fatah al-Sham stoned to death a woman from Heish village in Idlib after members of the terrorist group accused her of having engaged in extramarital relations. Authorities reportedly apprehended the woman in the home of the unmarried man with whom she was involved and immediately executed her as an honor killing. The unmarried male reportedly was summarily shot and killed immediately upon being detained”; US Department of State, Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2018 – Syria, 13 March 2019, www.ecoi.net/en/document/2004226.html. See also, The Independent, Teenage Girls Accused of Adultery 'Are Stoned to Death by ISIS Militants', 26 February 2016, https://bit.ly/2ljM8p2; Reuters, Nusra Kills Woman Accused of Adultery in Syria: Activists, 14 January 2015, https://bit.ly/2mQcMGy; Reuters, Man, Woman Stoned to Death for Adultery in Syria: Monitor, 21 October 2014, http://reut.rs/124ro5p; UK Home Office, Operational Guidance Note: Syria, 21 February 2014, https://bit.ly/2JHDE4j, p. 14. “Military objectives were placed above civilian governance by all parties to the conflict creating a vacuum of the rule of law in parts of the country”; UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights Council Discusses the Situation of Human Rights in Syria, 12 March 2019, https://bit.ly/2lj3IJN. “(…) stark deficiencies may exist in the national justice system (…), including a shortage of personnel, a lack of training in addressing serious criminal cases, concerns about the bias of national judges and prosecutors, limited court infrastructure, outdated rules of procedure, corruption, and limited case management”; HRW, Syria: Criminal Justice for Serious Crimes under International Law, 17 December 2013, www.refworld.org/docid/52ce6f664.html. “Interviewees cited delays, complexity, high costs, the authoritarian nature of the system, and corruption as dissuading them from referring disputes to the justice system. One driver seems to have been inadequate staffing (…). This, coupled with a complex legal architecture, slowed case turnover with anecdotal reports suggesting a 5-10 year processing period. Judges were also under-remunerated, which reduced their productivity and incentivised corruption”; WANA, Contingency Planning for Post-Conflict Syria, September 2016, https://bit.ly/2lZt283, p. 36. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry assessed that there was “[N]ear-total absence of accountability” for sexual and gender-based violence; UN Human Rights Council, “I Lost My Dignity”: Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in the Syrian Arab Republic, A/HRC/37/CRP.3, 8 March 2018, www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/1433339/1930_1527146239_a-hrc-37-crp-3.pdf, para. 1. Already before the conflict, “discriminatory laws and practices encouraged impunity for gender-based violence in Syria and prevented women, girls and LGBT people from accessing justice. (…) Syrian women and girls face sexual violence, forced and early marriages, and ‘honor’ crimes, amongst other forms of gender-based violence; and they lack adequate protections, access to justice, and victim services” (emphasis added); Human Rights and Gender Justice (HRGJ) Clinic, City University of New York School of Law, et.al., Human Rights Violations Against Women and Girls in Syria ̶ Submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of the Syrian Arab Republic, 24 March 2016, https://bit.ly/2mV44Xk, para. 2. “The Committee is concerned at the persistence of deep-rooted patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes with respect to women’s roles and responsibilities, all of which discriminate against women, perpetuate their subordination within the family and society and ultimately restrict their rights under the Convention”; Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Concluding Observations on the Second Periodic Report of Syria, CEDAW/C/SYR/CO/2, 18 July 2014, www.refworld.org/docid/575133f94.html, para. 21. “(…) justice sector employees lack understanding of gender issues, rights and responsibilities”; WANA, Contingency Planning for Post-Conflict Syria, September 2016, https://bit.ly/2lZt283, p. 37. See above footnote 15. “Women were particularly vulnerable to the impacts of corruption perverting the course of justice.” And further: “Problems with interference from the security forces, and judicial bribery and corruption remain endemic”; ILAC, ILAC Rule of Law Assessment Report – Syria 2017, https://bit.ly/2ux8hyV, pp. 40, 63. Syria has been ranked 178th (out of 180 countries) in the Global Corruption Perceptions Index for 2018. “Unsurprisingly, the instability of government institutions and complete lack of political rights and checks and balances, allows corruption to flourish in Syria”; Transparency International, Middle East & North Africa: Corruption Continues as Institutions and Political Rights Weaken, 29 January 2019, https://bit.ly/2DHQlsS. 5