'Big dreams but limited budget': Syrian minister reflects on a year after Assad’s fall

Transitional government inherited Syria at 'minus zero', Hind Kabawat tells The National

Syria’s Social Affairs and Labour Minister Hind Kabawat has told The National that the transitional government has “big dreams” but few resources to realise them, limiting its work amid high expectations from both inside and outside the country.

A year after the fall of the regime of Bashar Al Assad, Ms Kabawat, in an interview with The National, spoke of the achievements and constraints faced by the transitional cabinet formed in March, a 23-member body in which she is the only woman and the only Christian.

She said the western sanctions imposed on Syria have significantly “slowed” the work of her ministry, a vital portfolio in the country’s delicate transition period. It oversees social protection for the most vulnerable, including victims of Syria’s ruinous 14-year civil war, the return of millions of refugees, social cohesion, and labour and employment regulation.

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Her task is daunting. About 90 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the UN. Half of the country’s prewar population of 23 million is displaced, the economy is in tatters and sectarian tensions are simmering.

“Don’t forget we didn’t have money. We have the will, we have the passion, we want to work, we have big dreams but a limited budget, and people are waiting for us to deliver,” she said, adding that recent sanctions relief has moved things in the right direction.

Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara at the gate of Aleppo’s Citadel during celebrations to mark a year since Bashar Al Assad was overthrown. AFP

Western countries intensified economic sanctions against the Assad regime after 2011, as the country's long-time dictator brutally repressed peaceful protests, turning Syria into a pariah state.

In May, the US, followed by Europe, moved to lift most of the far-reaching sanctions imposed on the country. But the long-awaited step, widely welcomed in Syria, has not translated into a swift recovery on the ground.

Reconnecting with the global financial system is taking time and many investors remain cautious, especially given the temporary nature of some of the sanctions relief. “Plus, when we took Syria, it was at minus zero. It was bankrupt, destroyed. People were devastated. And now we have to do everything,” she said.

Despite financial constraints, she said her ministry was able to achieve successes over recent months, including the creation of a new social protection programme with a government committee dedicated exclusively to the task.

Her ministry dealt with the reinforcement of capacity-building and vocational training, especially for young people, people with disabilities and war victims. It also places greater emphasis on social cohesion, with regular meetings held between members of Syria’s rich, and at times antagonistic, array of ethnic groups and sects.

“We identify our priorities: social protection and cohesion, job creation and capacity building,” she said. Her ministry has also been working on new laws, including legislation governing civil society, labour, people with disabilities and hate speech, which she said has become a rampant problem. “We need a law to forbid it and ensure social cohesion,” she said.

Delayed transitional justice

Syria’s delicate political transition has been strained by bouts of violence involving government forces and fighters loyal to the new authorities, which President Ahmad Al Shara has struggled to keep a lid on.

Speaking in Aleppo to mark the anniversary of the rebel offensive he led, Mr Al Shara said "our people sacrificed dearly until we reached what we have achieved today". But he warned that “a long road now lies before us" to rebuild the city.

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In March, the crackdown on a nascent pro-Assad insurgency in the coastal area turned into a spree of killings of the Alawite community, to which the Assad family belongs. In July, clashes between tribes and Druze factions escalated into bloodshed in the province of Sweida. Hundreds of civilians were killed, mainly from the Druze community.

“The answer to why this is happening on the coast and in Sweida is clear: it’s because of the delay in transitional justice. And we know how important it is,” Ms Kabawat said. She added that the government is on the right path, having created a transitional justice commission the management and members of which she said were “very good”.

While her ministry is not directly in charge of the body, it supports the commission’s work and has meetings with it regularly. “We have many steps to take, and there is a delay, but don’t forget where we started. It’s been less than a year,” she said.

Establishing accountability also requires determining the fate of the forcibly disappeared, estimated at more than 100,000 people. In addition to the transitional justice commission, authorities have announced a presidential decree creating a national commission for the missing.

Ms Kabawat said her ministry also leads a subcommittee to find missing children, alongside the ministries of interior, endowments and justice, as well as civil society groups and lawyers.

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Thousands of children are reported to have gone missing during the civil war, with some reportedly forcibly separated from their parents and adopted under new identities. The committee has begun tracking missing children with the help of international organisations and has initiated DNA testing, she said.

Ms Kabawat's efforts have been strongly supported by other women, she said, and her ministry is pushing for greater representation across public institutions. “We are now pushing for every new board to have women. I don’t feel lonely as woman … except maybe in cabinet meetings. It’s the next step: having more women ministers.”