A panel was organized by the Rojbin Women's Council in Hamburg and held at the University of Hamburg.

The panel gave the audience the opportunity to listen first hand accounts from Kurdish, Syriac and Arab women representatives from Rojava and the Northern Syria Federation.

Anja Flach, the moderator, discussed the role and gains of women in the Rojava revolution.

Avin Sewaid, speaking on behalf of Kongreya Star women organisation, said that the Rojava revolution continues to be made also thanks to the labor of the woman:

"Women who had no free society and no freedom have taken the philosophy of Leader Apo in their hands and put it into practice. Of course we had 40 years of experience. With this revolution - Seward said - women have been able to occupy their place in every area of society, from the military, to defense, from the economy, to justice and education. Women are making decision in every field and are owners of their decision”.

Sewaid, who also acknowledged that the co-presidency system has not yet been well assimilated, continued: “The co-presidential system is not fully established and there is still a problem. The man still sees himself as vice president. There are men who carry the co-chairmanship seal in their pockets like the seal of Solomon. And women still cannot find the courage to oppose this”.

Avin Sewaid said that women are getting aware and owners of the concept of free women who could stand on their own feet and make decisions about themselves, and that they were cooperating with Arabs, Assyrians, Yazidi and Turkmen women in the region.

Problems in Shehba

Sewaid added: "At first we probably struggled a bit but we have come a long way. We are organizing everywhere, from councils to daily life. Of course we have a lot of problems and issues still. People who fled to Shehba immediately after the invasion of Afrin, for example, are suffering from a lot of problems”. 

The Kongreya Star representative said that people in Shehba are surrounded and cannot move from the camps. “Despite all efforts, children still have problems in getting education. After the occupation, a lot of people who gathered in Shehba developed even serious diseases. Many women have escaped raped and abduction regularly carried out by the Turkish army and their mercenary allies”.

Sewaid reiterated that the “people in Shehba still need a helping hand”.

"We were forced to take up arms to defend ourselves"

Syriac women representative, Nazira Goreya, said that the people of Syriac-Assyrian identity have been persecuted throughout history.

"We have experienced the fate of other minorities during the attacks carried out by DAESH. - she said - As Syriacs are an open society, we became the primary target for DAESH. We protected ourselves by fighting with Kurdish women in order to defeat the threat. And we have taken a gun in our hands, and today we defend ourselves against any threat. Of course - Goreya added - we want to live in a democratic environment without fear. The people of DAESH wanted to confine us to the house”.

The last speaker of the panel, an Arab woman from Raqqa, Khawla Alisha Alhammoud, told of the situation in the city DAESH proclaimed as capital of their Caliphate. 

"When DAESH invaded Raqqa, - she said - they promised to bring us freedom under the Islamic rule, but by taking all the rights that we had already conquered, they actually confined us to the house. When the women realized that this repression could not continue like this, - said Alhammoud - we organized as women bottom up. DAESH did not recognize any right, beginning from the right to live in any field of life. We owe our liberation and our decision to organise ourselves to Kurdish fighters”.