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Paris – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reveals in its report released today that at least 156 children are still conscripted by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the 537 cases of conscription carried out by the SDF since its establishment, further noting that 19 children have been kidnapped and conscripted since November, in the worst conscription campaign targeting children since the beginning of 2021.
 
The 15-page report notes that since the first months of the Syrian Democratic Forces’ establishment, the SDF has forcibly conscripted children; this child conscription has gradually expanded in parallel with the SDF strengthening its security and military grip over the areas under its control in northeastern Syria, with the group routinely either voluntarily or forcibly conscripting children, as part of its efforts to recruit or coerce children into joining its armed forces, which involve attempts to persuade and encourage children and offering them inducements, with schools controlled by the Self-Management Authority often participating in and actively supporting child conscription. In parallel with these various efforts, conscription is also carried out by kidnapping children, from schools, streets or neighborhoods.
As the report notes, Syrian Democratic Forces have established training camps for the children it’s conscripted in areas far from their areas of origin, generally preventing children from communicating with their families. Many families of these kidnapped and conscripted children have been subjected to threats and intimidation to prevent them from reporting their children’s conscription to international bodies or human rights organizations. The children’s families are also prevented from visiting their children in the SDF’s training camps, and subjected to verbal humiliation and removal if they attempt to visit them. The report adds that all this aims to isolate the children from their families and the outside world until the end of their training to ensure the children are fully indoctrinated into unquestioning acceptance of the hardline communist philosophy and ideological views of the PKK, the group of which the PYD is an affiliate.
 
The report documents a marked increase in child conscription levels in the past month of November 2021, and records the largest child conscription campaign by the SDF since the beginning of 2021, noting that the SDF is among the worst parties to the conflict in terms of child conscription, according to the UN Secretary-General’s reports on Children and Armed Conflict.
 
The report documents at least 537 cases of child recruitment carried out by the Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria since the SDF’s establishment – since the establishment of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party’s Self-Management forces – in January 2014 up to December 15, 2021; to date, at least 156 children are still conscripted by the SDF, divided between 102 males and 54 females. Among the child conscription cases, the report documents the deaths of at least 29 of the children conscripted by the SDF in combat operations.
The report provides a map showing the distribution of the 537 cases of child conscription according to the governorate in which the conscription incident took place, which shows that Aleppo governorate saw the highest number of incidents. The report also provides a chart for the distribution of this record by years.
 
Since the beginning of November 2021 up until December 15, 2021, the report records the kidnapping for conscription of at least 19 children, distributed between nine male and 10 female children; 11 of these kidnappings took place in Hasaka governorate and eight in Aleppo governorate. As the report documents, only three of these conscripted children were demobilized, while 16 are still conscripted.
The report adds that Syrian Democratic Forces have not yet taken any genuine concrete measures to demobilize and compensate child conscripts, to return them to their families, or to hold the perpetrators of kidnappings and conscription accountable and launch investigations into them.
The report notes that many families of children conscripted in Syrian Democratic Forces camps have protested, holding demonstrations and anti-Syrian Democratic Forces sit-ins, calling for their children to be returned from the SDF’s military centers. The report documents that a number of the families of conscripted children who participated in the demonstrations received threats and were attacked by groups affiliated with Syrian Democratic Forces, which also warned them not to participate in such demonstrations again.
 
The report stresses that Syrian Democratic Forces have violated all international laws related to the issue of child recruitment, with this report and others proving that the Syrian Democratic Forces’ gangs of kidnappers have gained extensive experience in this field, and that these kidnappings are carried out in a planned and deliberate manner, and are based on intelligence information, because the kidnappers are part of the controlling force, and have background data and information about the victims, their habits, and their families, which facilitates the victims’ entrapment by the kidnapping gangs.
 
The report recommends that the states supporting Syrian Democratic Forces should put pressure on SDF to stop forced conscriptions, and to respect the rules of international humanitarian law and principles of international human rights law in the areas they control, should support the process of establishing a genuine local administration in the northeastern region of Syria, in which all the inhabitants of the region may participate without discrimination on the basis of race and nationality and without the intervention of the de facto authorities in order to achieve stability and justice, and should support the building and establishment of an independent judiciary that prohibits military parties from carrying out forced conscriptions.
The report demands that Syrian Democratic Forces stop all forms of child conscriptions, disclose the fate of all forcibly disappeared children, and allow their families to visit and communicate with them, in preparation for releasing them.
The report additionally provides a number of other recommendations.
 

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Paris – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reveals in its report released today that Syrian Democratic Forces are violating the US sanctions’ Caesar Act, supplying oil and gas to the Syrian regime, including around six million barrels of oil annually, that makes profits of $120 million.
 
The report notes that the since the first months of the popular uprising for democracy, the Syrian regime has perpetrated innumerable atrocious violations, many of which amount to crimes against humanity, which have prompted many countries worldwide to impose political, and then economic sanctions, in an effort to stop these violations and to launch a political process to change the state’s ruling system from a hereditary dictatorship to a democratic, pluralistic government.
 
The 12-page report further notes that the United States of America has imposed many sanctions packages on the Syrian regime, most notably the Caesar Act, adding that both Russia and Iran have repeatedly violated the Caesar Act, which is only to be expected from regimes under US sanctions, both of which are longtime organic allies of the Syrian regime, with intersecting interests. More surprisingly, however, the report notes, US allies, namely Syrian Democratic Forces, have also violated the Caesar Act.
 
The report addresses the continuing provision of oil to the Syrian regime by Syrian Democratic Forces (mainly the Kurdish Democratic Union Party forces), even after the adoption and enforcement of the Caesar Act in June 2020 up until July 2021, focusing on the extent of the massive benefit to the Syrian regime from these operations, which it uses in its continuing perpetration of atrocious violations. Finally, the report refers to the issue of the toxic environmental pollution caused by the primitive oil extraction methods used.
 
The report observes that the US-led Coalition forces’ operations to stop oil-smuggling remain limited and incomplete in nature, with their impact usually lasting no longer than a few days, after which the oil trucks once again return to resume transporting the oil to the areas controlled by the Syrian regime
 
The report adds that whilst Syrian Democratic Forces have sought to curb smuggling operations via water crossings, they turn a blind eye to smuggling and sales that take place via the overland route; the report explains that the real reason behind this contradictory attitude is that the sales of oil transported via the overland route guarantee twice the profit for Syrian Democratic Forces compared to the oil transported by river crossings, with the SDF able to sell the oil transported overland directly without payments to any intermediaries among the companies that oversee the transportation of oil, such as the regime-affiliated al Qatirji Company. Meanwhile, oil transported via the river crossings is sold from the oilfields to the people of the region, who in turn supervise its transfer via the water crossings to the areas controlled by the Syrian regime.
 
To estimate the extent and value of the support provided by the Syrian Democratic Forces to the Syrian regime through these oil smuggling operations, the report outlines the incidents of oil sales that SNHR documented in December 2020, through which SNHR estimated the total amount of oil sold, with the amount of oil smuggled in December 2020 alone providing the Syrian regime with 1,500 tanker-loads of oil; with the capacity of one tanker estimated at 40,000 liters, this is equivalent to 60 million liters in total, i.e. at least 500,000 barrels of oil per month supplied by the Syrian Democratic Forces to the Syrian regime, that is, 6 million barrels per year; considering that the price for each barrel of oil is $20, Syrian Democratic Forces get an estimated annual return from selling oil to the Syrian regime of at least $ 120 million.
 
As the report reveals, approximately 50% of the oil produced in the areas under the SDF’s control is smuggled, with the annual production of oil in these areas being estimated at 11 million barrels. The report adds that this large amount of oil being smuggled out of the area leaves the region in permanent need, with the remaining quantity often insufficient to meet the needs of the regional population, especially since the northeastern region is an agriculture-centered one in which fuel mainly contributes to the operation of agricultural machinery and irrigation tools.
 
The report addresses the Decision No. 119 issued by the Self-Management Authority on May 17, 2021, which stipulates increasing fuel prices in areas under its control by between 100% and 350%. The report refers to the protests against this decision that took place in areas under the control of Syrian Democratic Forces, adding that the SDF confronted these protests with gunfire, using live bullets against peaceful protesters, which resulted in the deaths of six civilians, including one child. The report also documents the arrest of five other civilians by SDF, before the Self-Management Authority rescinded the decision on May 19
 
The report also addresses the issue of environmental pollution caused by the use of ‘oil burners’ after the damage to oil facilities as a result of the armed conflict; these ‘oil burners’ are makeshift refineries using primitive processing methods to refine crude oil by heating it at high temperatures, resulting in the emission of many toxic gases into the atmosphere. The report notes that these processes have caused the spread of many diseases due to the toxic gases emitted by this process, adversely affecting the population of these areas, with these negative effects also extending to livestock and wild animals that graze there; meanwhile, the Syrian Democratic Forces fail to make any serious investment from the massive oil revenues they obtain into creating a less environmentally toxic oil extraction process, repairing the environmental imbalance and compensating the local people for their heavy losses in land and livestock.
 
As the report further notes, through their oil-smuggling operations the Syrian Democratic Forces have supported the Syrian regime which is involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity, noting that the SDF have treated the oil and gas fields as though these facilities were their own private property and that of the Self-Management and Kurdish Democratic Union Party, which may have transferred some of the funds earned from these sales to its leaders in the PKK, an entity which is on the US terrorism list. This falls into the category of providing financing and support for global terrorism. The report adds that supplying the Syrian regime with oil and gas is a violation of the Caesar Act.
 
The report calls on the US government and the governments of countries participating in supporting the US-led Coalition against ISIS to open an immediate investigation into the involvement of Syrian Democratic Forces in oil-smuggling operations that benefit the Syrian regime, which is on US sanctions lists, to hold Syrian Democratic Forces and the Self-Management accountable under the Caesar Act, to ban their travel to the United States of America, to freeze their assets, and to impose all other available penalties in order to deter them from continuing to supply the Syrian regime with oil and gas.
The report also calls on the US government and its allies in the US-led coalition to establish a pluralistic and impartial body that oversees oil and gas extraction operations and the sale of these resources, and invests their revenues for the benefit of all the people of the region without ethnic or racial discrimination.
 
The report further calls on the US-led Coalition and its allies to make genuine efforts to establish legitimate civilian local governance and democratic elections in Northeast Syria as a positive replacement for the current dominant military forces, placing military forces under the authority of the democratically elected civilian governance, and placing the region’s resources under these democratic authorities’ control, which would be reflected in positive effects on services and infrastructure, as well as providing a number of other recommendations.
 

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Paris – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) issued a report today condemning Syrian Democratic Forces’ forcible disappearance and killing by torture of Amin al Ali, noting that enforced disappearance and torture have become standard strategies used by the Syrian Democratic Forces, with nearly 3,417 persons forcibly disappeared and at least 67, including one child and two women, killed under torture in Syrian Democratic Forces’ detention centers since the group’s establishment.
 
The five-page report specifically concerns the arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, and killing under torture of the victim Amin Aisa al Ali by Syrian Democratic Forces. Al Ali, who was born in 1986 and lived in Hasaka city, was a member of the subcommittee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s Syria branch. As the report reveals, on the afternoon of Saturday, May 22, 2021, a patrol of Syrian Democratic Forces personnel (whose mainstay is the forces of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, which is the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK) carried out a raid on the home of Amin al Ali, without showing any judicial warrant, and arbitrarily arrested him. The next day, the family went to the security headquarters of the SDF’s ‘Asayish’ security forces, where they learnt that he had been detained by the party’s Military Prosecution division in Hasaka city, with his family members unable to obtain any official information about the charges against him throughout the entire duration of his detention, or to appoint a lawyer or visit him despite their repeated attempts.
 
As the report further reveals, on June 28, 2021, the family of the victim, Amin al Ali, received a call from the Martyr Sariya Military Hospital telling them to come to the hospital. Upon their arrival, Amin’s family members learned of his death while in detention. They were able to recover Amin’s body that evening from the People’s National Hospital in Hasaka, after obtaining approval from the Military Prosecution in Hasaka to do so. The report reports the victim’s relatives that Amin’s body clearly showed signs of severe torture.
 
The report notes that Amin al Ali had criticized the management of the Syrian Democratic Forces and the decisions issued by the Self-Management Authority on his Facebook account, sarcastically condemning them over the deterioration of living conditions; the report adds that it’s widely believed that this repeated criticism was probably the real primary motivation behind Syrian Democratic Forces’ arresting him and torturing him to death.
 
The report adds that Syrian Democratic Forces deny forcibly disappearing and torturing Amin, despite his family confirming that both took place. In this context, the report refers to a statement issued by Syrian Democratic Forces’ Self-Management of North and East Syria, in which it denied the violent torture of the victim and claimed that that the photos and videos which were widely shared and showed clear signs of horrendous torture on his body were fabricated, asserting that the cause of his death was a stroke, although Amin al Ali’s family issued a statement confirming that there were visible signs of torture on his body when they received it.
 
The report documents the deaths of at least eight people due to torture and neglect of healthcare in Syrian Democratic Forces’ detention centers, since the beginning of 2021, and at least four incidents of torture of detainees. The report also monitors a steep escalation of arrests, enforced disappearances and the suppression of freedoms in the areas under SDF’s control, mainly in Hasaka, Deir Ez-Zour and the northeastern suburbs of Aleppo, in connection with the people’s criticisms of its policies in the areas under its control.
 
The report stresses that international law wholly prohibits torture and other forms of cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment. This being a customary rule, states are prohibited from dismissing or undermining this rule in favor of other rights or values, even in times of emergency. Violating the laws prohibiting torture is an international crime under international criminal law, with those individuals who issued orders for torture, or assisted in its occurrence defined as being criminals with legal responsibility for these practices; Syrian Democratic Forces have practiced the crime of torture in a widespread manner, violating the right to life, with these actions constituting a flagrant violation of international human rights law.
 
The report notes that Syrian Democratic Forces have denied all cases of deaths due to torture by their personnel and have failed to open a single investigation or even to acknowledge these cases, or to compensate or apologize to the victims’ families; instead, they have launched fierce attacks through their media organs on human rights organizations and activists exposing their violations, slanderously accusing these organizations and activists in order to incite terrorism against and discredit these organizations and activists.
 
The report recommends that UN Security Council and the United Nations should condemn the Syrian Democratic Forces’ practices involving the crime of torture, and work seriously using all possible means to end them, in order to save thousands of persons forcibly disappeared by Syrian Democratic Forces from death due to torture, and that they should demand that the Syrian Democratic Forces reveal the fate of nearly 3,417 forcibly disappeared persons, and impose UN sanctions on individuals and entities involved in torture acts and death due to torture.
 
The report calls on the international community, the US-led coalition against ISIS, and the United States of America to take serious punitive measures against Syrian Democratic Forces to deter the group from continuing with its policies of enforced disappearances, torture and terrorizing of communities, and to open a serious investigation into the murder of Amin al Ali and hold those responsible for his execution to account, as well as providing a number of other recommendations.
 

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The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reveals in a report released today that Syrian Democratic Forces have arrested/ detained at least 61 teachers over educational curricula and for forced conscription since the beginning of 2021, in addition to persecuting nearly 550 teachers arbitrarily dismissed from their jobs for refusing forced conscription in the governorates of Raqqa, Deir Ez-Zour and Hasaka.
 
The 15-page report notes that the policies and decisions Syrian Democratic Forces impose on educational institutions threaten the future of nearly half a million students in the governorates of Raqqa, Hasaka and Deir Ez-Zour, adding that the Self-Management Authority of this region under their leadership has, since its establishment, pursued a gradual policy of changing educational curricula and introducing educational materials that are distorted, incorrect and contrary to the history of Syria and its society. The report adds that the changes in the educational curricula at schools there were introduced without any consultation with local teachers or other academic experts whether from the region or further afield, but were instead imposed as a fait accompli, reflecting the YPG’s politically focused one-party ideological vision that allows only education which glorifies the views and precepts of the ruling authority, similar to the educational curriculum imposed by the Syrian regime that glorifies the Ba’ath Party and the Assad family.
 
The report describes these incremental policies as disastrous, noting that they have led to an alarming increase in the percentage of children dropping out of school, as well as forcing many children to attend schools in areas under the control of the Syrian regime. This in turn has led to overcrowded classrooms in the regime-controlled schools, constituting a threat in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, with students’ transfers constituting a material and moral burden on their families, and with all the aforementioned factors posing a serious threat to nearly half a million child students in the areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces. There is now an urgent need for the US-led coalition forces to pressure their SDF allies to form an inclusive democratic authority involving all the ethnic and religious groups in the region which can provide genuine care for the wellbeing and fate of all residents there.
 
The report focuses on recent Syrian Democratic Forces violations of the educational system through the group’s launch of arbitrary arrest campaigns which have seen dozens of teachers detained to date since early January 2021 until mid-February. The report notes that the SDF attempt to justify these arrests by claiming they need to conscript the detained teachers into their ranks, or because the teachers have provided special tutoring or additional lessons for children or have taught them according to the educational curriculum of the Syrian regime.
The report relies on the testimonies provided to SNHR by a number of teachers working in schools in the governorates of Deir Ez-Zour, Raqqa and Hasaka, and on the testimonies of eyewitnesses, students and local activists, with the report providing eight of these accounts.
 
In the report, SNHR expresses its grave concerns over the SDF’s possible forcible disappearance of dozens of teachers, as Syrian Democratic Forces have carried out arrests against teachers without presenting any arrest warrants, directing clear charges, or identifying themselves in terms of their affiliation with any security centers or departments, meaning the arrests are more like kidnappings.
 
The SNHR’s database indicates that at least 3,784 individuals, including 659 children and 176 women (adult female), are still arbitrarily detained by Syrian Democratic Forces, who have continued to imprison those who were initially taken prisoner by the Democratic Union Party (PYD). At least 2,147 of these detainees, including 113 children and 83 women, have been forcibly disappeared, in the period between the Kurdish Democratic Union Party’s forces first taking control of some areas in Syria in July 2012 up until February 2021. As the report states, SNHR fears that the arrested teachers will be forcibly disappeared in the absence of serious action by the US-led coalition forces, in particular the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon).
 
Since the beginning of January 2021 up until February 15, 2021, the report records at least 61 arbitrary arrests of teachers, 27 of whom were arrested on charges of teaching the Syrian regime’s educational curriculum, while 34 others were arrested with the aim of forcibly conscripting them into the Syrian Democratic Forces’ ranks.
The report also documents SDF’s deliberate persecution of hundreds of teachers over their refusal to join the ranks of the Syrian Democratic Forces, with this rejection of military conscription already leading to many teachers’ dismissal from their teaching jobs in the schools run by the Self-Management’s Education and Teaching Authority in the governorates of Raqqa, Deir Ez-Zour and Hasaka. The report estimates that nearly 550 teachers have been persecuted and dismissed over their rejection of forced conscription since the beginning of January 2021.
 
The report concludes that Syrian Democratic Forces/ Self-Management Authority have introduced texts and imposed these as laws despite their lacking any legislative or legal foundation, being based wholly on the reality of the SDF’s military control in these areas, resulting in further punishment and persecution of the local population under the terms of these texts and decrees.
The report adds that this forced conscription within these military forces which are involved, according to UN, international and local reports, in committing several types of violations against the local population, is a violation of the people’s right to personal freedom, human dignity, freedom of movement, and the right of everyone to express conscientious objection to military service as a legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, in particular in the context of armed conflicts, and individuals’ right to reject militarily participation in these. Arbitrary dismissal from work, persecution, arrest, torture and enforced disappearance based on the rejection of forced conscription, are all compounding and adding to the cumulative violations of the most fundamental principles of international human rights law.
 
The report stresses that the new US administration should promote the human rights situation in northeast Syria, should take steps along the path towards fair and democratic elections that allow full political expression for all members of the local electorate, and should end the current totalitarian military rule, allowing for the establishment of an independent and impartial legislative and judicial authority.
 
The report calls on the US-led Coalition forces and the states supporting Syrian Democratic Forces to conduct investigations, to hold those responsible accountable for the horrific human rights violations in northeast Syria, to end the current culture of total impunity, and to pressure Syrian Democratic Forces to end their forced conscriptions, and their dismissal and arrests of teachers over their rejection of military conscription.
 
The report also calls on the US-led Coalition forces and the states supporting Syrian Democratic Forces to work to disclose the fate of all those forcibly disappeared by Syrian Democratic Forces, to secure the release of all those arbitrarily detained, primarily the teachers, and to support the development and establishment of a fair and independent judiciary that prohibits any military entities from carrying out arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances, which holds all those responsible for violations against the local population accountable.
 
The report emphasizes that Syrian Democratic Forces must stop all forms of arbitrary arrest, reveal the fate of the forcibly disappeared, allow their families to visit and communicate with them, subject them to fair and independent trials, immediately release all teachers who have been arbitrarily arrested, and end the policy of forced conscription.
 
The report also provides a set of related recommendations to the Human Rights Council, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), and the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
 

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The Syrian Network for Human Rights reveals in a report released today that al Hawl Camp is more like a prison camp that continues to hold tens of thousands of IDPs in inhumane conditions, noting that the United Nations Independent International Commission on Inquiry, in Its latest report, holds the PYD-led Self-Management authority responsible for the unlawful detention of thousands of people there.
 
The 21-page report outlines the stages of the al Hawl Camp establishment and its structure, as well as the most notable waves of displacement that the camp has witnessed since it was reopened in April 2016 up to the current date. In 2016, the number of people living in al Hawl Camp reached nearly 12,000 IDPs and refugees, most of whom came from Deir Ez-Zour and Raqqa governorates, and from the State of Iraq, with their number reaching 18,000 in 2017, mostly from Iraq. As for 2018, although the camp subsequently witnessed a decline in the number of refugees coming from Iraq, the battles that took place between Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and ISIS in the latter’s last enclave in Deir Ez-Zour governorate at the end of that year caused waves of displacement in Deir Ez-Zour governorate, with the number of residents in al Hawl Camp reaching 33,000 IDPs and refugee at the beginning of 2019. With the increase of waves of displacement in 2019, the number of camp residents had reached nearly 70,000 IDPs and refugees by the end of that year, most of whom came from the governorates of Deir Ez-Zour and Raqqa. The number of camp residents has now reached 65,000 people as of October 2020.
 
The report notes that the residents of al Hawl Camp have been exposed to a number of violations of basic human rights, such as the right to life, movement, health, education, and others. As the report reveals, at least 53 civilians, including 25 children and 11 women, have been killed in al Hawl Camp, since it was reopened in April 2016 up until October 28, 2020, of whom Syrian Democratic Forces killed 18, including 14 children, while 35 others, including 11 children and 11 women, were killed at the hands of parties that the report has been unable to identify.
 
The report provides more details on the inhuman conditions that the camp residents have been exposed to, noting that most of the tents are built using a poor, highly flammable type of plastic, which is also ineffective in protecting residents from the harsh climatic conditions that characterize the region. The resulting fires have resulted in the deaths of at least nine civilians, including four children and one woman, between April 2016 and October 28, 2020.
 
The report adds that the camp suffers from acute food shortages, inadequate provision of drinking water and sanitation facilities, and lack of medical care. The lack of medical care and food has resulted in the deaths of seven children in al Hawl Camp between April 2016 and October 28, 2020.
The report also notes that there are about twelve educational centers for children of different ages in al Hawl Camp, emphasizing that the number of these centers is very small compared to the amount of children in the camp whose number exceeds forty thousand children, with some being orphans who have lost their father, mother, or both parents.
 
The report stresses that the conditions in al Hawl Camp constitute a breeding ground for an outbreak of COVID-19, as precautionary measures such as wearing masks and social distancing are also very limited; the camp’s lack of water and sanitation infrastructure is the most dangerous factor contributing to the spread of the pandemic.
 
The report finds that the Russian veto opposing the renewal of Security Council Resolution No. 2165 has been a major reason for the lack of humanitarian and medical aid in the camp, and is contrary to human rights principles. The report adds that the veto used by Russia and its ally China caused the closure of al Ya’roubiya crossing, which affected the flow of UN aid to the region, with these shortages clearly reflected in the deteriorating humanitarian conditions, especially the food and medical conditions for the residents of al Hawl Camp. The report states that Russia and China bear moral responsibility and responsibility for violating fundamental human rights through this arbitrary veto.
 
Referring to the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry’s (COI) latest report, the SNHR report confirms that Syrian Democratic Forces prevent camp residents from leaving and returning, or from permanently leaving and returning to their villages and homes in areas where combat operations with ISIS ended many months ago, although combat operations in some of these areas ended nearly two years ago.
The report outlines three basic ways for camp residents to leave it. First, through tribal dignitaries’ mediation with Syrian Democratic Forces, which has contributed to the release of at least 3,000 detainees from al Hawl Camp, with those released coming from the governorates of Deir Ez-Zour, Raqqa and Aleppo; Second, through smuggling or escaping from the camp via smugglers who have relations with the Internal Security forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces, as the detainees’ families pay huge sums of money to both the smugglers and the internal Security forces in exchange for smuggling them using harsh methods, such as hiding detainees inside tanks.
The report adds that the third way for detainees to leave the camp is when some foreign countries request repatriation of their citizens, whose total number exceeds two thousand, mostly women and children.
 
The report further notes that the human rights and humanitarian reports issued by several United Nations bodies, in particular the recent report by the International Commission of Inquiry, as well as reports by international organizations such as Human Rights Watch and local human rights organizations, all helped in putting accumulated pressure on the Syrian Democratic Forces’ Self-Management authority, until it issued Decision No. 146 On October 10, which allows Syrians wishing to leave the camp to do so after completing the necessary procedures. However, the report notes that SNHR has seen no large-scale expulsions or release of thousands of detained Syrians, and has documented that the releases have remained limited to the cases arranged via tribal mediation.
 
The report finds that through these detentions, Syrian Democratic Forces have violated a large number of principles of international human rights law, including arbitrary deprivation of liberty, freedom of movement, the right to education, and the right to health care. Syrian Democratic Forces also failed to give these detainees any opportunity to defend themselves, to know the reasons for their detention, or to challenge them through the opportunity to obtain a fair trial.
The report states that Syrian Democratic Forces have treated entire sectors of the camp, which include hundreds of people allegedly associated with ISIS, worse than others, with this distinction being based entirely on allegations that have not been proven through independent investigations.
 
The report stresses that donor countries have not provided sufficient support allocated to the UN and international organizations working at the camp, exacerbating the already poor conditions there, emphasizing that the Self-Management authority is not solely responsible for the poor living and medical conditions inside the camp, despite its lack of financial transparency in how the proceeds of the region’s wealth, especially oil and gas, are spent.
 
The report’s recommendations include calling on the United Nations to increase the humanitarian aid provided to the camp until a solution is found to the detainees issue, and to put pressure on countries whose citizens are detained in the camp in order to expedite their repatriation and ensure that their children obtain their nationality, as stipulated in international law, in order to avoid creating hundreds of stateless persons.
 
The report recommends that the US-led coalition should put pressure on Syrian Democratic Forces to release thousands of detainees in al Hawl Camp, to release all those who have not been proven guilty of a criminal offense according to a fair trial by a court formed in an impartial and independent manner, and to request that the Self-Management authority prepares financial statements detailing the funds it obtains from the resources of the areas it controls and the mechanisms for their disbursement, and ensure that these statements are made freely available and disseminated for public scrutiny, especially by the residents of that region, and that sufficient funds are allocated to spend on improving living conditions in al Hawl Camp.
 
The report urges countries worldwide with citizens detained in al Hawl Camp not to repudiate their citizens and to work to repatriate and try them in accordance with the law, and to grant citizenship to children who were born to citizens outside their countries, as well as to increase humanitarian aid to al Hawl Camp, especially medical assistance in light of the second wave of COVID-19.
 
The report calls on Democratic Union Party-led Self-Management authority to release tens of thousands of detainees in the camp to ensure their return to the areas from which they were displaced, and to stop using discrimination against some sectors of the camp, as well as to prepare financial reports on the amount of money obtained from the wealth of the governorates of Deir Ez-Zour, Hasaka, and Raqqa and publish these for public scrutiny, in addition to allocating funds to improve the harsh conditions of al Hawl Camp.
 

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The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) states in its report released today that Syrian Democratic Forces are breaching US and European sanctions and supporting the Syrian regime with oil and gas, with SNHR requesting that investigations be launched to disclose the expenditure of oil and gas revenues due to well-founded concerns that these funds are being used to fund terrorism.
 
The 15-page report notes that the UN Security Council has failed completely in its mission to fully maintain peace and security in Syria, despite the staggering and exhaustive extent of the violations perpetrated by the ruling authority against the Syrian people, effectively giving the Syrian regime carte blanche ad enabling it to use a weapon of mass destruction against the country’s citizens, with the United Nations failing to even impose economic sanctions or arms embargoes.
 
The report also notes that, given this massive failure by the Security Council in its duties towards the Syrian people, some countries have assumed some of their responsibilities to punish the Syrian regime and achieve some kind of accountability against its brutal practices; the USA, the European Union and a number of countries worldwide have imposed economic and political sanctions against the Syrian regime in order to pressure it to change its criminal behavior, and in an effort to force it to accept a political path leading to a process of change from the current system of dynastic dictatorship toward real elections free from the control of the security services.
 
The report explains that any economic or military support for the Syrian regime contributes to relieving pressure on it and to supporting its military capabilities and security services. Such support is categorized as complicity in support of the Syrian regime perpetrating further crimes, especially through furnishing material support that could be used in military operations. Although the operations to support the Syrian regime are carried out by rogue regimes such as Iran and Russia that do not care about international law and have a shameful human rights record, this report, which has taken more than four months of work, covers the period until September 18, 2019, concludes that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have significantly contributed to supporting the Syrian regime with oil and gas supplies.
 
As the report reveals, the SDF has, on the one hand, supported a regime implicated in crimes against humanity and under economic sanctions imposed on it specifically by the US administration, a major backer of the SDF, which is surely a strong blow to the US government. On the other hand, it explains, the SDF has used the financial gains from its operations without any accountability or transparency, with a large proportion of that money possibly reaching the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is classified as a terrorist organization. This implicates the SDF in supporting and financing global terrorism.
 
In this context, as the report states, in April 2019, several villages and towns in Deir Ez-Zour witnessed public outrage over poor service conditions; although this is an oil-rich region, its inhabitants have not witnessed the restoration of infrastructure or hospitals and have not been provided with basic services since the SDF took control of the region.
 
This report highlights the SDF’s control of Syria’s oil fields, and its accompanying failure to disclose any information or show any transparency in revealing where millions of dollars in oil and gas sales revenues have gone and where these funds have been disbursed. In addition to this, aiding the Syrian regime and frequently supplying it with oil and gas is a flagrant violation of US, European and Canadian sanctions against the regime.
 
As the report explains, the governorates of Raqqa, Hasaka and Deir Ez-Zour contain nearly 20 oil fields, 11 of which are under the control of Syrian Democratic Forces; these 11 fields have a productive capacity far larger than that of the fields under the control of Syrian Regime forces, meaning that Syrian Democratic Forces control 80 percent of Syria’s oil and gas production.
 
The report relies on investigative and statistical reports by specialist agencies specializing in energy, and compares oil productivity between 2010 and 2018, revealing that the SDF oil fields produce approximately 14,000 barrels of oil per day. The report is also supported by accounts SNHR has obtained which reveal that the SDF currently sells a barrel of crude oil to the Syrian regime for around US $ 30, making a total daily return estimated at $ 420,000, a monthly return estimated at US $ 12.6 million, and an annual return estimated at 378 million dollars; this sum does not include the gas revenues.
 
The report points to the existence of a number of indicators suggesting coordination between the SDF and the Syrian regime dating back to mid-2012, when the Syrian regime withdrew from Hasaka governorate, clearly demonstrating systematic coordination between Syrian Regime forces and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party forces, who seemed quite obviously to have reached a mutual agreement to share areas of influence and control of the city’s neighborhoods, as well as agreeing on control of different military checkpoints, in addition to forming joint military units to repel ISIS’ attacks on the city. According to the report, the frequency of meetings between the two parties escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his country’s intention to withdraw from Syrian territory in December 2018.
 
The report further reveals that the SDF began its oil smuggling operations to the Syrian regime at the end of 2017, when the SDF tightened its control over the oil and gas fields in Deir Ez-Zour governorate following its battles against ISIS, while the supply of oil to the Syrian regime from the al Rmelan and al Suwaydiya fields in Hasaka governorate has not stopped since the Kurdish Democratic Union Party took control of the two fields in mid-2012, as these fields are subject to agreements between the two parties, with the workers at both fields still receiving their wages from the Syrian regime.
 
The report notes an unprecedented rise in smuggling operations since the US administration increased the level of economic sanctions imposed on the regime in mid-2018, with these operations assuming a more organized form, and taking place either through selling crude oil from SDF-controlled oil fields to traders and companies affiliated with the Syrian regime or through using vessels travelling between water crossings on opposite banks of the Euphrates River.
 
The report also notes that the International Coalition forces forced the SDF to take part in a campaign to end the oil smuggling operations, further noting that the occurrence of these joint attacks on the oil crossings confirms the existence of a popular oil trade that has been going on for years; its public exposure necessitated the intervention of International Coalition forces. As the report emphasizes, military force alone is not enough and that investigations should be opened into those involved in supplying oil to the Syrian regime, where the resulting financial revenues have gone and how much they are worth.
 
The report stresses that Syrian Democratic Forces have breached economic sanctions imposed on the Syrian regime by civilized democratic countries around the world that constitute a near international consensus against a regime that has committed crimes against humanity, and is primarily supported by states like Iran and Russia that do not respect international law and which are involved in committing war crimes and crimes against humanity and in defending and justifying the regime’s crimes.
 
As the report makes clear, Syrian Democratic Forces, through their oil-smuggling operations, have supported the Syrian regime which is involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity, with the report further noting that Syrian Democratic Forces have treated the oil and gas fields as though these facilities were their own property and that of the Self-Management and Kurdish Democratic Union Party, which may have transferred some of the funds earned from these sales to its leaders in the PKK, which is on the US terrorism lists. This falls into the category of providing financing and support for terrorism in the world.
 
The report calls on the US government and the governments of countries participating in supporting the International Coalition against ISIS to open an immediate investigation into the involvement of Syrian Democratic Forces in oil-smuggling operations benefiting the Syrian regime, which is on US sanctions lists, to ensure disclosure of all the money it has received from selling oil and gas since 2012 to date, to provide a financial statement on where and how the money was spent, and to stop supporting the SDF and the PYD fully and immediately if it is proven that they are transferring funds from Syria’s oil and gas revenues to the terrorist PKK.
 
The report also calls on these bodies to make genuine efforts to establish legitimate civilian local governance and democratic elections in northeast Syria as a substitute for the dominant military forces, placing military forces under the authority of the democratically elected civilian governance, and placing the region’s resources under its control, which will be reflected in positive effects on services and infrastructure.
 
The report recommends that Syrian Democratic Forces should open an investigation into those involved in oil and gas smuggling operations, and supporting the Syrian regime, should hold them accountable by trial conducted by an independent judiciary that is not affiliated with the SDF or Self-Management, should use the oil and gas revenues for the benefit of society, restore infrastructure and services, and should commit to financial transparency in this. The report also recommends that the SDF must not support the Syrian regime which is involved in committing crimes against humanity, as this could lead to a charge of collusion against the SDF and its political and military leaderships.
 
The report urges the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on the Syrian regime targeting the organs and persons involved in committing atrocities and violations, above all to impose an arms embargo and travel ban.
 
The report stresses the urgent need for the OHCHR and the International Commission of Inquiry to recommend that the Security Council imposes sanctions against the Syrian regime in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and international law, including a comprehensive arms embargo, and to stress the vital need for the imposition of sanctions, including legal and criminal accountability for all those who actively support the Syrian regime in its military and criminal operations against the Syrian people.
 

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Press release:
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) states that nearly 3,000 individuals are still detained or forcibly disappeared by Syrian Democratic Forces that have restricted on civil society organizations through repressive practices similar to those of extremist groups.
 
The nine-page report reveals that Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are attempting to legitimize all repression, arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, kidnapping with the aim of forced conscription, and other widespread human rights violations in the areas they control under the pretext of fighting terrorism and extremists. This tactic, according to the report, is very similar to the ploy used by the Syrian regime, which categorizes anyone who opposes its policies and calls for the change of the dynastic ruling family and the ruling family’s appointment of the government as a terrorist who must be arrested, silenced and made an example of as a warning to the rest of society.
 
The report notes that that the approach adopted by Syrian Democratic Forces to arrests is very similar to that of the Syrian regime, which also fails to implement any legal process or to ensure that arrests are carried out by legally authorized persons or through presentation of a warrant. In both cases, the detainee is kept ignorant of the party carrying out the arrest, the reason for the arrest and where the detainee is being held. Also in both cases, detainees are not allowed access to any legal defense and are denied access to the outside world, with their families denied any information about their fate.
 
The report stresses that international law prohibits the use of enforced disappearance under any circumstances, and states that emergency conditions such as conflicts and wars may not be invoked to allow its practice. There are numerous international norms and instruments that deal with the crime of enforced disappearance as the Rome Statute, Article 7 of which describes enforced disappearance as a crime against humanity when committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack, with Article 5 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance also stressing the same point. Similarly, Article VII of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that no-one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and Article 14 of the same Covenant criminalizes the coercion of any person to testify against himself or admit to an offense he has not committed. In addition, enforced disappearance violates a range of rights, such as the right to recognition of legal personality and to the freedom and security of the person, to access to judicial guarantees and to a fair trial, as well as the right of victims’ families to know the truth about the fate of the disappeared and the circumstances of their disappearance. In addition, enforced disappearance violates the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
 
As the report states, in the period between Kurdish Democratic Union Party forces first taking control of some areas in Syria in July 2012 up until September 2019, the SNHR team documented the detention of at least 2,907 individuals, including 631 children and 172 women (adult female) who are still being arbitrarily arrested by Syrian Democratic Forces, who have continued to detain those first taken prisoners by the Democratic Union Party. At least 1,877 individuals, including 52 children and 78 women, have been forcibly disappeared in this period.
 
In this regard, the report notes that since the beginning of August 2019, the SNHR team has documented several incidents of arrest, in which the SDF has targeted the founders and employees of independent local humanitarian organizations in Raqqa governorate. The SDF has worked to disseminate and spread reports among the local community claiming falsely that these organizations were linked to ISIS, terrorism and terrorists, in preparation for the arrest and disappearance of these individuals.
 
The report stresses that no official statement has been issued to date by the SDF or by the judicial and administrative authorities in Raqqa city regarding these arrests, creating a dangerous precedent that suggests a close similarity to the practices of extremist groups in north-west Syria in terms of repression, restriction and intimidation of civil society organizations operating in areas under their control, with the aim of subjugating and extorting the local population, and using arbitrary arrests to make the detainees a warning to others, so that nobody else dares to build civil society organizations in order to concentrate all sources of funding and support in the hands of the dominant group, in this case the Syrian Democratic Forces, which has not yet succeeded in achieving tangible achievements on various civilian levels.
 
The report outlines the details of incidents of arrest carried out by the SDF against six workers with humanitarian organizations in Raqqa governorate, four of whom were later released, relying on the accounts of a number of workers in local and community-based organizations in Raqqa governorate and eyewitnesses to the incidents of raids and arrests. The report also includes three accounts.
 
The report notes that that Syrian Democratic Forces has violated international human rights law through committing the crime of enforced disappearance. Enforced disappearance is prohibited by the customary international humanitarian law according to rule 98 which prohibits enforced disappearance in international and non-international armed conflicts. Rule 117 of the same law states, “Each party to the conflict must take all feasible measures to account for persons reported missing as a result of armed conflict and must provide their family members with any information it has on their fate.”
Further, the international criminal law prohibits enforced disappearance. According to the International Criminal Court’s Statute, practicing enforced disappearance in a systematic manner constitutes a crime against humanity (Article 7, paragraph 1-i).
As the report states, SDF has also flagrantly violated a large number of principles relating to the protection of all persons subjected to any form of detention or imprisonment, such as principles number: 1/2/3/4/6/9/11/12/15/17
 
The report calls on the states supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces to put pressure on them to stop arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances, to respect the rules of international humanitarian law and principles of international human rights law in the areas they control, to support the process of establishing a genuine local administration in the northeastern regions of Syria, in which all the inhabitants of the region may participate without discrimination on the basis of race and nationality and without the intervention of the de facto authorities in order to achieve stability and justice.
The report also calls on these states to support the building and establishment of an independent judiciary that prohibits military parties from carrying out arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances undeterred.
The report calls on Syrian Democratic Forces to stop all forms of arbitrary arrest, to disclose the fate of the forcibly disappeared persons, to allow their families to visit and communicate with them, to hold them to fair and independent trials, to stop the policy of restricting local and community-based humanitarian organizations and to allow them to operate.
The report urges Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) and OHCHR to investigate the incidents included in this report, noting that the Syrian Network for Human Rights is always ready to cooperate in any such endeavors.
Lastly, the report recommends that the Human Rights Council should follow up on the issue of detainees and enforced disappearances in Syria, highlight it in all periodic annual meetings, and allocate a special session to consideration of this terrible threat.
 

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The SNHR announced in its report released today that Kurdish Self-Management forces have escalated the frequency of arrests and enforced disappearances since the beginning of 2019 in light of the intensification of their policy of harassment, repression and violation of basic human rights norms in the territories under their control.
 
The report says that since the beginning of 2019, Self-Management forces have carried out a number of large-scale raid and arrest campaigns in both Raqqa and Hasaka governorates. Half of the detainees seized in these campaigns can be categorized as forcibly disappeared in light of the Self-Management forces’ denial of their arrest, preventing detainees from contacting their families or retaining a lawyer, and of the detainees’ families being unaware of their whereabouts.
 
The four-page report cites multiple patterns of violations committed by Kurdish Self-Management; foremost among these is arrest, which often turns into enforced disappearance, as well as torture, conscription of children and forced conscription. The most egregious of these violations was the death of two people due to torture and medical negligence in the Self-Management forces’ detention centers. The Self-Management Forces subsequently returned their victims’ bodies to their families.
 
The report details the prominent areas in which raids and arrests were carried out such as the cities of Raqqa, Tal Abyad and al Tabaqa, in addition to the villages of al Qahtaniya, Ein al Arous, Mas’ada, Khas Habbal, Khas Dakoul and Khas Aalej, as well as the towns of Slouk and al Mansoura in Raqqa governorate, and both Ein al Arab and Manbej cities in Aleppo governorate, and Hasaka and al Derbasiya cities in Hasaka governorate.
 
The report documents the arrest of at least 107 individuals, including four children and six women, by Self-Management forces from the beginning of January 2019 until the publication of this report. Fifty-two of these detainees have been forcibly disappeared. According to the report, the arrests carried out by Self-Management forces targeted IDPs residing in areas under their control, mainly the inhabitants of refugee camps, citing various charges such as alleged kinship relationships between the IDPs and members of ISIS, or members of Armed Opposition factions. The report also documents several incidents in which the Self-Management forces arrested many individuals from the same family, and targeted individuals participating in protests against their policies, as well as targeting dignitaries and tribal sheikhs who refused to support their policies, such as the imposition of conscription, or refused to condemn protests against them. The report notes that the arrests also targeted teachers who deviated from the educational curriculum and teaching methods imposed by the Self-Management forces.
The report stresses that most of the arrests and raids were carried out without any judicial warrant, and in other cases, the report documents, operations similar to abductions of civilians from markets and other public places were carried out by Self-Management forces.
The report also notes that some residents who are being persecuted by the Self-Management forces have received threats that their properties will be burnt down and their families arrested if they do not surrender.
 
In addition to all of the aforementioned, the report documents four conscription incidents of children aged 13-17 during the period covered by this report, all of whom were abducted by the Self-Management forces, who have subsequently refused to give their families any information about their children’s whereabouts or wellbeing except to state that their children have been taken to military training centers.
 
The report stresses that Kurdish Self-Management forces have repeatedly violated international human rights law in many areas. According to article 7 of the Rome Statute, torture, enforced disappearances and severe deprivation of physical liberty constitute crimes against humanity if they are knowingly and broadly exercised, with the report noting that there is a broad strategic policy employed by Kurdish Self-Management forces.
 
According to the report, international law provides special protection for children in situations of armed conflict, including a strict prohibition on the conscription of children, and the use of children in hostilities. Also, Kurdish Self-Management forces have repeatedly violated this prohibition by abducting children and taking advantage of their vulnerability and poor living and psychological conditions to force them into military service with their forces.
 
The report calls on Self-Management forces to respect the principles of international human rights law, to end all forms of arbitrary arrest, to disclose the fate of detainees, to allow them to communicate with their families and to receive a fair trial, to acknowledge the fate of the disappeared, and to stop all forms of torture. In addition, the report calls on the states supporting Syrian Democratic Forces to apply pressure on these forces in order to compel them to cease all of their violations in all the areas and towns under their control and to cease all forms of arms support. The report considers providing the Syrian Democratic Forces with weapons and other military support while knowing that these can be used in perpetrating war crimes or crimes against humanity can be seen as a contribution to these crimes.
 
Finally, the report stresses the importance of supporting the course of a democratic political process in the areas of eastern Syria, and beginning an electoral process in which all members of society can freely participate under international supervision, leading to a democratic political authority that truly represents society, whose establishment will lead to stability and justice.
 

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The SNHR says today that it is necessary to take action to rescue some 6,000 civilians in Hajin district who have been subjected to indiscriminate and repeated bombardments by the Syrian Democratic forces and the International Coalition forces since September 11, 2018.
The eight-page report monitored the sharpening of clashes with ISIS since July, 2018, and the low frequency of the air attacks by the International Coalition forces against ISIS before the Syrian Democratic forces announced the resumption of military operations on September 11, 2018. The report refers that there was no serious desire to eliminate ISIS from the areas it controls in the far east of Syria, although this is possible and more easily than it was the case of the battle of Raqqa.
 
This report highlights the most prominent human rights violations committed by both the International Coalition forces and the Syrian Democratic forces in areas still under the control of ISIS in Deir Ez-Zour governorate, which the report called it “Hajin district” as a term between September 11, and December 20, 2018.
The report focuses on the dire humanitarian situation of thousands of civilians trapped between Syrian Democratic forces and Syrian Regime forces, as well as their suffering, as a result of ISIS tightening its security grip on them and using them as human shields.
 
The Syrian Democratic forces imposed a blockade on Hajin city, Abu al Hasan village, al Kashma village, al Sh’afa town, al Sousa town, al Baghouz village, which are under the control of ISIS. The report states that it carried out attacks using missile launchers and mortar shells, and set up snipers on the outskirts of villages and towns. Finally, the International Coalition forces supported Syrian Democratic forces on the ground, where hundreds of air strikes were launched.
The report monitors the use of artillery shells by the International Coalition forces stationed in the badia of Hajin city, noting that at least two attacks involving incendiary weapons in areas far from the frontlines and populated areas were carried out.
 
According to the report, at least 165 people, including 74 children, and 29 women (adult females) have been killed since September 11, 2018. As of December 20, 2018, the Syrian Democratic forces have killed 12 civilians, including 3 children, while International Coalition forces killed 153 civilians, including 71 children and 29 women.
The report records at least 13 massacres, all at the hands of the International Coalition forces, in addition to at least 13 incidents of assault against civilian vital centers, which were the international coalition forces responsible for 11 incidents, including two on medical facilities, while Syrian Democratic forces were responsible for two incidents.
 
The indiscriminate attacks and intensive bombardments coincided with an ongoing blockade imposed by Syrian democratic forces on the areas controlled by ISIS. The report notes that these forces have not been allowing commercial trucks to enter into Hajin district since September 11, which has led to a deterioration in the living conditions of thousands of people. And medical materials and supplies ran out. All medical centers were out of service after being targeted by International Coalition forces aviation.
The report points out that some civilians had to flee towards the areas of control of the Syrian Regime forces located on the opposite bank of the Euphrates River, despite all that this displacement carries the risk of being subjected to arrests and torture that may be carried out by Syrian Regime forces. The report says that these civilians were subjected to sniping actions and mortar and artillery shelling by the Syrian Regime forces on boats of civilians who were trying to flee towards their areas of control.
The report monitors the prevention of ISIS for people to leave their areas of control, referring to the attack carried out by ISIS on October 11, 2018, on badia of Hajin camp, which included IDPs from Hajin district, where they burned tents and returned hundreds of displaced persons to its areas of control.
The report stresses that Syrian Democratic forces did not seek to secure safe corridors for displaced persons fleeing the hell of military operations in a Hajin district. They also detained civilians who went to the Badia of Hajin camp, which was established by the Syrian Democratic Forces and imposed house arrest on them.
The report also points out that the Syrian Democratic forces prevented the civilians from leaving the camp until they verified their identity papers and interrogated many of them for fear of the existence of elements affiliated with ISIS. The report mentions extortion operations against the residents, where they were forced to pay large amounts of money to the Syrian Democratic forces that control the camp to allow them to leave.
The report stresses that the Coalition forces (the Syrian Democratic forces and the International Coalition forces) committed serious and multiple violations of international human rights and humanitarian law amounting to war crimes. The parties directed numerous attacks against civilian populations, including aerial and ground bombardment of populated areas. These forces didn’t send any warnings prior to the attacks as required by international humanitarian law.
 
According to the report, attacks by the Coalition forces incidentally caused civilian casualties, injury to civilians or serious damage to civilian objects. There are very strong indications of the belief that the damage was too excessive when compared to the desired military advantage.
According to the report, ISIS also committed widespread violations of international humanitarian law against the people in areas under its control, preventing them from leaving the areas under their control, in order to be protected by them and use them as human shields, which constitutes a war crime.
The report says that the Syrian Regime forces attacked civilians who tried to flee towards their areas of control. These attacks violate international humanitarian and human rights law and amount to war crimes.
 
The report calls on the International Coalition forces to respect international humanitarian law and customary international law, and therefore the countries of the international coalition bear responsibility for the violations that have occurred since the attacks began, and must bear the consequences of all these violations, and try their best to avoid recurrence. The report stresses the need for Syrian democratic forces to provide a safe passage for civilians fleeing the areas of control of ISIS, and to improve the situation of the camps under its supervision, and to allow displaced people freedom of movement, and to provide food and medical assistance, and for the SDF supporting countries to put pressure on them to stop all human rights violations.
The report recommends that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) find ways to deliver food, water and shelter to displaced people who have settled in several areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic forces.
 

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Before the Democratic Union Party (The Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s Syrian branch) founded the Kurdish Self-Management, the party’s forces (People’s Protection Units, Asayesh) committed a wide range of violations that we monitored in several reports, in addition to reports by international organization (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch) and a number of local organizations. The approach continued after the Kurdish Self-Management and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were formed (some news reports contended that American officials imposed that name as an alternative to “Self-Management”). However, all of these names are fundamentally based on the Kurdish Democratic Union Party with the addition of nominal Arabic and Syriac parties.
 
Since the start of 2016, we have recorded a notable excessiveness in the severity of torture methods and a rise in the number of victims killed by SDF. Some of these violations exhibited ethnic characteristics, where we recorded a number of accounts from survivors who confirmed to SNHR that they were abducted and tortured. We have also acquired documents that prove that they were subjected to torture at SDF detention centers, and we published some of these documents in our report on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
 
Recently, a number of videos surfaced online that show armed fighters whose uniforms and dialect, as well as the nature of the video itself and other aspects, suggest that they are affiliated with SDF. The video showed these fighters brutally torturing detainees, as the videos bore a similarity to the videos that showed fighters from Syrian regime forces. Also, the video show acts of killing through direct executions with no trial, and the everlasting charge is being affiliated to ISIS in a manner that is similar to the accusations of supporting and funding terror. These charges only serve as a pretext that justify torturing, disfiguring, and killing the offender without any evidences or judicial and moral restraints. We have copies of this videos on secret, secured services, as well as the source that originally published the videos.
 

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SNHR has released a report entitled: “The Yellow Assault” which tackles the most notable violations in Raqqa governorate between November 6, 2016 and June 30, 2017.
The report sheds light on the historical context in Raqqa governorate since it was taken over by ISIS on January 12, 2014, and then the Kurdish-majority SDF’s “Euphrates’s Wrath” on November 6, 2017 until the encompass on Raqqa city in late-June 2017.
 
The report says that in spite of ISIS’s cruelty and brutality which was felt by the Syrian people, in general, and the residents of Raqqa and Deir Ez-Zour governorates, in particular, not a single eyewitness or resident of the ones that SNHR contacts expressed optimism in SDF, due to the fact that it was founded by a singular portion of the Syrian people through a party that dominated the Kurdish existence within the Syrian people, which was, as it is commonly known, founded by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party that is branded as a terrorist party by USA.
 
Fadel Abdul Ghany, chairman of SNHR, adds:
“The killing and destruction, and the violations that resulted from all that, and the careless and apologetic behavior of the forces that perpetrated these violations, in addition to the lack of a local, popular faction, are among the most significant factors that will resurrect ISIS even if a military victory was achieved, as the elements and dynamics for an incarnation of ISIS do still exist. These elements must be addressed in parallel with a military war.”
 
The report draws upon the daily documentation and monitoring by SNHR’s team that is conducted routinely on a daily basis, and secondly, on accounts from survivors, eyewitnesses, and local media activists that we spoke with via phone and social media. Also, we have analyzed a large number of the videos and pictures that we found online, or were sent to us by local activists via e-mail, Skype, or social media. Some of the media published by local activists showed pictures of victims and burnt children victims, and a huge destruction in the infrastructure, and vital civilian facilities, while other pictures showed explosions of white phosphorus munition in the sky of Raqqa.
 
The report notes that the attacks included in this report in which air warfare was used were by international coalition forces, whereas artillery attacks entail a joint responsibility, considering that international coalition forces supplied SDF with these weapons, and some of these attacks saw a joint presence for forces during the artillery shelling. As such, we assigned responsibility in these attacks to SDF without relieving international coalition forces of the responsibility as they were, firstly, the party that supplied weaponry, and secondly due to the fact that SDF are supported and directed by international coalition forces.
 
The report adds that International coalition forces and SDF haven’t distinguished between civilians and fighters in many of the attacks, and haven’t considered the principle of proportionality in the use of force. Therefore, many of the attacks constituted war crimes. Moreover, we didn’t monitor any incidents were the attacking parties issued a warning for the civilians prior to the attack as the international humanitarian law requires.
 
The report outlines the most notable violations by the conflicting parties in the battle of Raqqa including killing, arrest, and targeting vital civilian facilities.
 
The report documents the killing of no less than 1400 civilians, including 308 children and 203 women (adult female), in Raqqa governorate – 731 civilians were killed by international coalition forces, including 210 children and 139 women, 164 civilians were killed by SDF, including 31 children and 31 women, and 505 were killed by ISIS, including 67 children and 33 women. Also, the report, records that international coalition forces perpetrated 53 massacres, while SDF and ISIS perpetrated four and six massacres respectively.
 
The report says that there have been 90 incidents of attack on vital civilian facilities including 90 by international coalition forces, whereas SDF were responsible for six incidents of attack on vital civilian facilities, and ISIS were responsible for 11.
 
According to the report, no less than 504 individuals were arrested, including five children and five women, in the period of time covered by the report. Of those, 117 were arrested by SDF, while the remaining 387 were arrested by ISIS.
 
The report stresses that the bombardment operations included in this report were a disproportionate, indiscriminate bombardments that constitute an explicit violation of the international humanitarian law. The crimes of indiscriminate killing qualify as war crimes.
 
Also, the report says that he incidents that involved shelling by international coalition forces and SDF have resulted in collateral damages that included civilian casualties, injuries, and serious damages to civilian objects. There are strong indicators suggesting that the damage was too excessive compared to the anticipated military benefit.
 According to the report, ISIS perpetrated widespread violations of the international humanitarian law against the residents living in its area of control including killing, arrest, and torture. We also recorded that the group barred residents from fleeing its area of control, in order to use them as protection and human shields.
 
The report calls on the International coalition forces have to respect the international humanitarian law and the customary international law, and take responsibility for the legal ramifications of the violations in these incidents. Also, international coalition forces need to make every effort to avoid a reoccurrence.
 
The report also stresses that international coalition forces have to unequivocally confess that some of the bombardment operations resulted in killing innocent civilians. Denying this by government won’t make much of a difference as the documented human rights reports and residents’ account blatantly expose these crimes. Instead, these states should work on launching serious investigations as soon as possible and compensate the victims and people who were affected and apologize to them.
 
Lastly, the report calls on the SDF-supporting states have to apply pressure on the group in order to cease all their offensives in all of the areas and towns they control, and start working on establishing local councils from the local community to govern these areas in a civil manner.
 

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On November 6, 2016, the Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces -SDF- (primarily consisting of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party) initiated the first stage of “Ghadab al Furat” (Euphrates’s Fury) to take over the entirety of Raqqa governorate, one of the most major strongholds for ISIS (self-proclaimed the Islamic State. With the support of the international coalition forces, the battle started in northern suburbs of Raqqa governorate before moving onto western and eastern suburbs of Raqqa. By the end of June 2017, SDF, backed by the air forces of the international coalition, had taken over wide areas of western and northern suburbs of Raqqa -estimated at 80% of the governorate’s land area- and encompassed Raqqa city in preparation to take over the city.
 
The military operations saw a blatant disregard for the customary international law, which was reflected by the unjustifiable size of human casualties that were killed in that period of time. SNHR recorded that this alliance (SDF-international coalition forces) have killed no less than 895 civilians, including 241 children and 170 women, between November 6, 2016 and June 30, 2017. Also, we recorded approximately 78 incidents of attack on vital civilian facilities in the same period of time. Thirdly, we recorded that 117 individuals, including one child and three women, were arrested at the hands of SDF.
 
In light of the indiscriminate bombardment and killing, destruction of houses and vital facilities, and arrest operations, tens of thousands of residents to flee. Most of those found themselves forced to live in desert areas that are unequipped for habitation amid a lack of the most basic necessities of life. SNHR estimates the number of civilians who were forcibly displaced at 120,000 people at least from across the governorate. Some of those people managed to go back to their villages after they were taken over by SDF, which meant that international coalition forces’ strikes came to an end in those areas. Nevertheless, thousands of people are still displaced as is the case with al Salhabiya al Sharqiya village, western suburbs of Raqqa governorate. This is what the human rights, humanitarian, and media organizations have to shed light on in order to apply pressure on the international coalition forces so they instruct the forces supported and funded by them (namely, SDF) to let them go back to their houses at once.
 
In mid-May 2017, SDF advanced towards al Salhabiya al Sharqiya village, which is of an Arabic origin, in western suburbs of Raqqa (21 kilometers from western Raqqa city). Fearing the aerial shelling and arrest campaigns that usually these advancements bring, most, and maybe all, of the village’s residents fled. The residents estimate the number of displaced people at 4000 people who are displaced in the agricultural fields that are located in the vicinity of the village, as they set up tents and lived there.
 

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