Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
DAMASCUS, Syria, Apr 11, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Nearly 25 percent of married women in Syria have been beaten, a study by the U.N. Development Fund for Women concludes.
"The issue of violence against women was kept silent here for many years," Shirin Shukri, a manager of the U.N. project, told The New York Times. "But we're making people in Syria aware that this is something that happens everywhere in Europe, in Asia, in the United States, and this is opening up discussion."
Hana Qaddoura of the General Union of Women, which helped the survey of 1,900 people, said many Syrians do not consider home beatings of women to be domestic violence.
"Many people see a woman who is beaten as being in a bad relationship; they don't see her as a victim of violence," Qaddoura told The Times.
Rights advocate Bassam al-Kadi said the report shows a growing openness about domestic abuse.
"Until two years ago, discussion of honor killing was banned in the Syrian media," al-Kadi said.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
