Stories of the War-wounded and War-disabled in Jordan

Free Syrian Translators

Dr Shahrazad al-Jundi

3 December 2012

Rapid Assessments of the Needs of War Victims with Disabilities in Syria

According to a United Nations spokesman, "Every hour people are being killed, or being maimed and becoming permanently disabled in Syria." So many horrors are occurring that it is impossible to provide an exact number.

National Syrian Project for Prosthetic Limbs

As the ongoing crisis in Syria claims more lives everyday, it also leaves behind a grim trail of severe injuries and disabilities.

One of the most tragic consequences of the conflict is that it resulted in a large number of amputees, most of whom are young and otherwise healthy.  Unless these amputees receive the appropriate help, their disability would have condemned them to a future of dependency, and inability to support themselves or their families.

A group of Syrian doctors and therapists set out to create an ambitious project to manufacture and supply prosthetic limbs to Syrians who have lost limbs, be that as a result of injuries, or due to illnesses such as diabetes or peripheral vascular disease.  The short-term aim of this project, the  National Syrian Project for Prosthetic Limbs, is to provide prosthetic limbs, free of charge, to 15,000 people, with a long-term objective to become a permanent facility, providing artificial limbs manufactured by Syrian workers, from locally purchased raw materials.

Clearly, such a massive project requires massive resources, both in terms of finance and expertise.  The organizers of this important projects have enlisted the help of a team of experts and technicians from Naya Qadam Trust, which was established in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan.  Naya Qadam Trust will provide full technical and logistical support for the Project, and will carry out training for Syrian technicians, to enable them to manufacture artificial limbs, at the rate of 7 to 10 prostheses per day.  It is envisaged that patients will be assessed, enlisted in the physiotherapy and rehabilitation programme, and have the prosthetic limb fitted, all within 24 hours in a 0ne-stop operation, all free of charge.

Syria Relief is immensely proud to be a partner in this magnificent project.  We are joining forces with the Syrian British Medical Society (SBMS), the Syrian Expatriate Medical Association (SEMA), and the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Societies (OUSSM), to support the visionary and pioneering project.  We are counting on YOUR support.

For more details, please go to the Project’s Facebook page.

We are delighted to report that the project is now up and running.

To support this magnificent effort, please donate generously.

The Fight to Save Lives in Syria - Field Hospitals Treat "Horrific and Brutal" Injuries

Monday, 12 November 2012 13:49 Dr. Shahrazad Junde

Hundreds of civilians across Syria are facing a dire situation.  It doesn't matter whether they have suffered a heart attack or a sniper shot, there is nowhere to access safe medical care. The result is a new phenomenon of small secret field hospitals cropping up around Syria. These are set up in basements, schools or even in tents, equipped with only the most basic equipment and minimal medical staff. The field hospitals, known only through a secretive local network, treat anything from gunshot wounds to Caesarean sections. Even though they are severely under-resourced they provide a vital lifeline to the local community.

The War Victims and Persons with Disabilities in Syria

Monday, 12 November 2012 13:05 Dr. Shahrazad Junde

According to a United Nations spokesman, "Every hour people are being killed, or being maimed and becoming permanently disabled in Syria." So many horrors are occurring that it is impossible to provide an exact number. When we asked the Medical Health Commission for the Syrian Revolution about the estimated number of either temporary or permanently disabled people resulting from military operations, we received these numbing answers: "We can't tell," or "We don't know."  One of the Doctors  said   “I have seen many  persons lose eyes, hands, feet or arms as a result of war and other random acts of violence, and the families lack the fundamental infrastructure to care for the people--the men, women and children who become disabled." One of the persons with disability has told me, "After I lost my left arm and part of my left leg, questions began haunting me. They were: Who am I now? What can I do now? What future do I now have professionally?  Can I now plan for a family?  Can I now be a wage earner? Can I now be a lover? Can I now be independent? Am I now viewed the same by my family and friends? The 'now I's multiplied with each personal, intellectual, economic, social and physical challenge."

Action Needed to Protect Syrian Women and Girls

Sunday, 26 August 2012 11:54 Dr. Shahrazad Junde

Findings of the Assessment of Gender-based Violence in Syria include violence against women and girls, rape, kidnapping, killings, exploitation, trafficking, sexual abuse and domestic violence In March 2012, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) conducted an assessment of gender-based violence experienced by refugee women and girls in Syria who’d fled to safety in northern Jordan. Over a two week period, the IRC spoke with more than 90 refugee women and girls, 23 service providers, and conducted safety audits to identify the types of violence women and girls experienced in Syria. The assessment also examined protection risks they face in Jordan, as well as the availability and accessibility of support.

Field Hospitals in Syria and Tremendous Efforts to Protect the Wounded from Permanent Disability

Translated by  Free Syrian Translators. We Would like to Thank them for the support.


Article in Arabic 

Thursday, 11 October 2012

Dr. Shahrazad Junde

The recovery room in one of the houses, which hosts the wounded of the revolution, is the final stage of the patient’s movement from the “tayyar [flash] hospital” [1] to the “field hospital” to a “nearby house” to  a “house further away”, and so on …. The idea of ​​the tayyar or the makeshift hospital came at the beginning of the Syrian revolution, where the Syrian Security forces entered some of Daraa’s hospitals and finished off the wounded. Then the revolutionists decided they needed a safe place to treat patients.

 The demonstrators utilized the tayyar or makeshift field hospitals instead of government hospitals or even private hospitals which are under the surveillance of the authorities.  A number of young people in the protesting neighborhoods donated to find appropriate residential houses away from the eyes of the State Security and Shabiha [regime militia] so the wounded can be treated in a safe place and also to avoid arrest.

The tayyar and makeshift field hospitals are still a new experience for Syrians, for getting treatment from bullets that penetrate their bodies after being fired by the state security forces in an attempt to disrupt the dreams of liberty and freedom from the regime of tyranny. A large number of Syrians are turning to people with permanent disabilities by Syrian bullets and the Syrian Army and Shabiha. Nevertheless, a large number of those wounded return to demonstrate without fear or thinking of backing away from the demands of the Syrian people.

This is not confidential information. The Syrian Intelligence or the “responsible authorities” as they are called know all this information which was posted on social networking sites and YouTube pages.

Global Arab Network - Disability Rights, Syria - A New Organization Established

this article was published in Global Arab Network

Global Arab Network - 

Saturday, 22 September 2012 15:28

Disability Rights, Syria was established in September 2012, with the aim of protecting the rights of persons with disabilities during the Revolution. The work has started with a study on disability focusing on the magnitude and other characteristics of persons with disabilities in Syria during the Revolution, in order to evolve a successful programme for protection, integration and rehabilitation. Data and information relating to type, age and causes of disability, will be collected to plan and provide emergency rehabilitation programme.  The study will assess the economic, social and psychological impact of disability as a result to the military operations in Syria.

Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities

The Convention in Brief

Countries that join in the Convention engage themselves to develop and carry out policies, laws and administrative measures for securing the rights recognized in the Convention and abolish laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination.

As a change of perceptions is essential to improve the situation of persons with disabilities, ratifying countries are to combat stereotypes and prejudices and promote awareness of the capabilities of persons with disabilities.

Countries are to guarantee that persons with disabilities enjoy their inherent right to life on an equal basis with others, ensure the equal rights and advancement of women and girls with disabilities (Article 6) and protect children with disabilities.

Project:1 A study on causes of disability in Syria during the Revolution, with focus on military operations against the civilians

Terms of Reference

Estimates indicate that anywhere between 5  and 10 percent of the Syrian population are persons with disabilities (2008). Conflict situations increase the vulnerability of persons possessing already a disability and raise the number of newly disabled persons. That happens indirectly by breakdown of social structures and services like family links and health and other infrastructures the persons with disabilities rely on, and directly by casualties caused by weapons, mines, bombs and other explosives.

The Syrian military operations against the Syrian people represents a grave breach of the Geneva conventions of 1949, according to international humanitarian and human rights agencies; these include the use of banned arms against civilian targets and in densely populated areas; extensive destruction of the civil property including hospitals, schools, places of worship and the people’s homes while they are still in them without prior warning.

Disability during armed conflict and emergency situations

What is disability?

The UN estimates that there are 500 million persons with disabilities in the world today. This number is increasing every year due to factors such as war and destruction, unhealthy living conditions, or the absence of knowledge about disability, its causes, prevention and treatment.

The Right to Rehabilitation Persons with disabilities have the right to rehabilitation (a process aimed at enabling persons with disabilities to reach and maintain their optimal physical, sensory, intellectual, psychiatric, social functional levels, providing them with the tools to achieve higher levels of independence) Rehabilitation is a right for every individual with disability regardless of the type and degree of their disability and Governments, organizations and communities are required to ensure the provision of appropriate rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities.

Awareness Campaign on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities during the Syrian Revolution

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 10% of the world’s population - approximately 650 million people, of which 200 million are children - experience some form of disability and 80% of all people with disabilities live in developing countries.

Estimates indicate that anywhere between 5  and 10 percent of the Syrian population are persons with disabilities (2008). Conflict situations increase the vulnerability of persons possessing already a disability and raise the number of newly disabled persons. That happens indirectly by breakdown of social structures and services like family links and health and other infrastructures the persons with disabilities rely on, and directly by casualties caused by weapons, mines, bombs and other explosives.