Silhouette Leaders of Syria

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In the midst of Obama, Assad, and Putin, I found that the voice of woman leadership was missing in the Syrian conflict.
A further research led me to Razan Zaitouneh and UM Souheir. Razan is a 34 years old human rights lawyer and UM is a volunteer in Syria. Razan is the one who established Syrian Human Rights Information Link(SHRIL) in 2005, also co-founded the Human Rights Association in Syria (HRAS), the same year. As Assad’s regime imposed a ban on access for foreign journalists and human rights advocates, SHRIL become one of the main sources of information to the world on the killing committed by the Government controlled security forces.
She was accused of being a foreign agent after a statement she made on Syrian state television on March 23, 2011 and became a target of the Assad regime. But refused to leave Syria, hence she remains in hiding to this day. But she keeps reporting and providing insights on the civil war to the world. She is keeping a connection between the people of Syria and the international community.
Rajan’s leadership style is more on servant leadership which puts service to others, before self interest. According to Marian Anderson, “Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.” Rajan is serving her country in the most adverse situation to address the need of the people suffering humanitarian disaster from the civil war. As recognition of her brave work, she won the Anna Politkovskaya Award last year, which is presented to a defender of women’s rights in a conflict zone. ‘If we didn’t believe we will win, we couldn’t bear all this,’ said Rajan in an interview to Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty (REF/RL).
“We are ready to do anything, carrying weapons even standing at the front line, we have no problem, we will do everything we can for the sake of god and help free our country,” said UM Souheir during an interview to the AFP. UM is among a group of woman volunteer in Syria working for ‘Haraeer’ which means ‘free woman’ they support people in the hospitals and refugee camps.
There are many like UM and Razan in Syria and the number is growing. In spite of the violence and oppression they are facing everyday, their inner strength to make a difference in extreme situation, clearly shows their strength as a leader. These are silhouette leaders in Syria- fighting for their rights and freedom.
–Wahida Ifat