Oh là là! It is hard for me to say what the international community can do. I limit my role to that of a journalist who is here to break the silence. Silence is the executioner's best ally. On their own, these poor women cannot say what they have experienced because they would be risking their lives. My role is to alert the international community. I do not know what it can do, but it must at least know that these kinds of crimes are being committed.
I am very much struck by the fact that, very often when we talk about societies at war, we limit ourselves to the firsthand accounts of men. We are told about warriors and their suffering, their strategies and so on. Men represent 50% of the population, even less. People forget the other half in societies at war and during revolutions. I am now very sensitive to this state of affairs when I read press accounts or see films on television. The other day, I saw a very beautiful film on Syria at war, but it did not show a single female face over a one-hour period. Everybody applauded the film and said it was marvellous, but it did not show a single woman.
When politicians and the international community try to understand what happens in societies at war, I would at least like them to consider the situation of women systematically. In most countries, women are the primary victims. I have talked to you about rape, but I should also tell you that, as civilians—they obviously do not wage war—women are targeted by snipers, particularly pregnant women. Some accounts are very specific on that point.
Snipers try to kill women in the streets of Alep and Homs. I met a number of women who had lost a leg. One of them laughed as she told me that she had been shot at and that several women had lost their left leg that day. I could not believe what I was hearing; it was incredible. Then she explained to me that the snipers had been making bets and that, on that day, were trying to hit women in the left leg, the leg near the heart. It made no sense, but they play those kinds of games as they target a maximum number of women, particularly pregnant women. Several pregnant women were systematically targeted.
As we have seen, women are also used as human shields. Some were captured and forced to walk ahead of the troops or to climb onto a tank. The tank was obviously not going to be attacked, but they put the women on the front of the tank. Women are kidnapped for ransom, which is relatively standard, but they are also kidnapped because soldiers know how important they are in prisoner exchanges. It is better to have women to exchange. The combined rebel parties and the Syrian army want so much to recover women that they tend to exchange, say, 10 prisoners for 1 woman. Women are kidnapped that much more because their value is known. A lot of prisoner exchanges are being made right now.
The situation in Syria is so complex that I do not know what I could recommend. However, I can say that women should be systematically involved in the peace process in Syria and in other countries. I am familiar with the situation of Syrian women. I have spoken to Syrian women lawyers. They are very reasonable, engaged and very pragmatic. They do not show hatred when they tell me their stories or talk about what they have investigated. On television, when I see all these men involved in the peace process, I think something is wrong with the world. This is not normal.
Women should systematically be involved at the negotiating table or when specialists are consulted about a given country. Female lawyers and others who go into politics or are doctors can bear witness. It is very important that they be systematically involved in all peace processes.
Women are the primary victims in this conflict, as they are in many others. However, women are systematically being used as instruments in the situation in Syria.