The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights:

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) today (October 15,2024) released a report condemning the Israeli occupation of Syrian lands in Quneitra in the Syrian Golan since September 15, 2024. On that date, Israeli forces accompanied by tanks, bulldozers, and excavation equipment advanced 200 meters into Syrian territory to the east of the 1974’s United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) disengagement line, which is situated to the west of the town of Jabata al-Khashab in Quneitra, in the occupied Syrian Golan. There, they began bulldozing agricultural land, digging trenches and earth berms east of the UNDOF line and along the ‘Sufa 53’ road, which Israel also constructed within Syrian territory in 2022. They also established monitoring positions, fortified by earth berms and trenches as deep as 5-7 meters, each a kilometer from the other. Then, on October 11, 2024, Israeli forces bulldozed agricultural lands near Koudna town. This was followed by an Israeli announcement of establishing what they called a “security fence” on the border with Syria.

The report notes that, through this action, Israeli occupation forces are establishing themselves to the east of the 1974 UNDOF disengagement line within Syrian territory, violating the disengagement agreement signed between Syria and Israel on May 31, 1974. This agreement was concluded in compliance with UN Security Council resolution 338, issued on October 22, 1973, which stipulates the creation of the UNDOF line, with Syrian territory to the east of it and Israel to the west.

The report further stresses that Israel’s ongoing infringement of Syrian territory since September 15, 2024, was not the first of its kind. Previously, in 2022, Israeli forces advanced into Syrian territory east of the UNDOF, and constructed a road named ‘Sufa 53’, which cuts through Syrian territory, with some parts extending into Syria by up to two kilometers.

Moreover, the report condemns the Syrian regime’s bringing in dozens of Iranian militia groups, which facilitated the violation of Syrian sovereignty by hosting dozens of non-state groups. The Syrian regime has also allowed Israeli Air Force violations of Syrian air sovereignty that have become an almost daily occurrence, passing without any significant condemnation or attention.

The report concludes by emphasizing that the recent Israeli actions in Syrian territory, including establishing observation points and the ‘Sufa 53’ road east of the 1974 disengagement UNDOF line, violate international law, which prohibits the annexation or seizure of land by force or threat. These actions constitute an act of aggression and a threat to international peace and security. Furthermore, the Syrian regime’s failure to fulfill its constitutional duty to preserve Syria’s independence, unity, and territorial integrity may encourage Israel to seize and annex more Syrian land, exploiting the ongoing regional conflict and international indifference.

The report calls on the UNDOF to provide comprehensive reports detailing recent Israeli attacks on Syrian territory. The UN and the UN Security Council must also uphold their responsibility by ending systematic Israeli attacks and enforcing relevant international resolutions. Additionally, the international community must condemn Israel’s flagrant violations of Syrian sovereignty and the 1974 disengagement agreement, and intensify diplomatic efforts to prevent further Israeli annexation of Syrian lands, with a focus on addressing the root causes of regional conflicts and instability.

In addition, the report stresses, all stakeholders, including regional powers and the international community, must act toward reaching a comprehensive and inclusive political settlement in Syria, in accordance with UN Security Council resolution 2254, with the report also providing a number of other recommendations.

The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights today, Thursday, August 8, 2024, released a report entitled, ‘Brief Report: The Baath Party is the Syrian Regime’s Instrument to Control Trade Unions in Syria’ concerning the Baath Party’s domination of the work of trade unions in Syria. The report was released in the wake of the issuance of Decision No. 37 by the Syrian regime’s Central Command of the Arab Socialist Baath Party on July 17, 2024, relieving the then-head of the agricultural engineers of his duties, and appointing another one.

The 12-page report notes that Decision No. 37 contravenes the 2012 Constitution, adopted unilaterally by the Syrian regime, which establishes that unions are to be autonomous, and Act No. 8 of 2018 on Regulating the Vocation of Agricultural Engineering, which establishes a specific mechanism for dismissing the head of the agricultural engineers’ union. Furthermore, the fact that such a decision was made and enforced is emblematic of a deeper structural dysfunction within trade unions operating under the Baath Party’s total control. In fact, the Baath Party treats this and every other trade union as merely subsidiary extensions of its own organization rather than as independent entities. As such, the Baath Party intrudes into the operations of all trade unions and similar associations, from processes such as selecting candidates to approving the outcomes of members’ votes, not to mention, as in this case, exerting absolute power over the appointment and dismissal of union heads and members. To reduce this blatant intervention to a conventional, formal decision reflects the mindset of the Baath Party which, from its own standpoint, is simply implementing a decision on an internal matter by replacing one trade union head with another, as though the dynamics within unions were simply an internal party matter without unions having any governing ordinances of their own regulating the mechanisms by which such issues are decided. The report adds that this decision shows utter contempt for the thousands of agricultural engineers, who as the union’s members should have the exclusive right to select and dismiss their own representatives.

As the report explains, this decision comes in the context of the regime’s attempts to further centralize the decision-making process within the Baath Party. In a broader sense, Decision No. 37 is an extension of the policies maintained by the Baath Party since its 1963 coup. Those policies have seen the Baath Party ensuring its absolute and uncontested control over any political movement, or any potential source of engagement in independent civil, social, cultural, or union action of any form. By the 1970s, the Baath Party had legalized its absolute control over the state and society through Article 8 of the 1973 Constitution. Whatever slim prospects were left thereafter for a genuine civil society were completely eradicated on April 9, 1980, when Hafez Assad dissolved the unions, and had their members arrested. Subsequently, these unions were supplanted by new bodies subservient to the ruling authority and intricately linked to the regime’s security apparatus. In that, the Baath Party established full control over trade unions and associations and their millions of members. These unions have been forced to raise, adopt, and repeat the banners, symbols, and slogans of the Baath Party, and even to hold or participate in pro-regime marches marking any milestone or occasion that the ruling authority wishes to see celebrated or observed.

The report stresses that, when the popular uprising began in mid-March 2011, the Syrian regime further re-evaluated the roles of grassroots unions, incorporating them into its authoritarian networks to crush dissent and enforce more draconian control of Syrian society. In this, the regime’s security apparatus instructed unions and associations to revoke the membership of any members participating in the protests, and to submit security reports about them to the regime’s security authorities, leading to their prosecution and dismissal, in addition to denying them their financial rights. While the Syrian regime removed the infamous Article 8, which formally established the Baath Party as the leader of the Syrian state and society, from the 2012 Constitution, nothing changed on the ground, with the party continuing to enjoy the very same powers and privileges, exerting a brutal paternalistic authority over the Syrian state and society. In this role, the Baath Party still controls all institutions which should be independent platforms to serve the interests of the Syrian people, such as trade unions and the People’s Assembly of Syria.

The report concludes that the Baath Party’s intrusions into the work of trade unions violate the freedom of union work, as established in international and domestic laws. Moreover, the decision to dismiss the head of agricultural engineers and name a new one is completely invalid on the grounds of the lack of competence of those responsible. It also violates international and domestic laws, including the 2012 Constitution and Act No. 8 of 2018 on Regulating the Vocation of Agricultural Engineering. Furthermore, it infringes upon the jurisdiction of the Agricultural Engineers’ Union’s General Assembly.

The report calls on the international community to provide technical and financial support to enhance the capabilities of independent trade unions in Syria in order to help them exercise their rights in a free and autonomous way. The international community must also suspend the membership of Syria’s trade unions in international union bodies, until they have attained autonomy and freedom of union work in the way prescribed in international treaties.

Additionally, the report calls on the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) to intensify efforts to monitor and document violations against trade unions in Syria, and to release periodic reports on this topic to raise awareness at the international level.

The report also calls on the Syrian regime to respect the constitution and domestic and international laws that guarantee the autonomy of trade unions, and to repeal all laws and articles of legislation that give the Baath Party privileged powers over the unions, and to ensure that all laws are compatible with the Constitution and international law, in addition to making other recommendations.

The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) revealed, in a brief report released today, that it has submitted a report for the UN Human Rights Committee 141^st Session, in which the group notes that the Syrian regime has violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), with many of its violations constituting crimes against humanity.

In July 2024, the UN Human Rights Committee examined the fourth periodic report by the Syrian Arab Republic on its compliance with the provisions of the ICCPR, marking the first time that the UN has examined the status of human rights in Syria and the Syrian regime’s compliance with the ICCPR since the start of the popular uprising in Syria in March 2011.

The report stresses that the Syrian regime, under Bashar Assad, has not submitted any reports to the UN Human Rights Committee since 2004. The fourth periodic report to be submitted by the regime, which was due for submission in 2009, was submitted on December 29, 2021, in a conspicuous demonstration of the regime’s dismissal of and contempt for human rights and for the principles of the ICCPR. On top of that, Syria should have been a critical case due to the numerous human rights violations committed by the country’s ruling authority in the wake of the popular uprising in March 2011. In light of these facts, the UN Human Rights Committee should have asked the Syrian regime to submit additional periodic reports, or at least bring the date for submitting its periodic report forward.

As the report further reveals, SNHR has reviewed the report submitted by the Syrian regime’s government to the UN Human Rights Committee that reflects its supposedly great commitment to the ICCPR. In response to this, SNHR has submitted an alternative report refuting much of the content of the regime’s report, and clearly illustrating how Syria has reached rock bottom in respect to many fundamental human rights, becoming one of the world’s worst countries in terms of committing various types of violations. With the Syrian regime led by Bashar Assad remaining in power, SNHR has documented the commission of many crimes of killing, arrest, enforced disappearance, torture, and restriction of freedoms by regime forces, especially by the regime’s security apparatus, with many of these violations amounting to crimes against humanity. The report further proves that the Syrian regime has violated numerous ICCPR articles, as well as routinely breaching human rights. The report submitted by SNHR draws upon the information archived on the group’s database, mainly focusing on data concerning breaches of the rights to life and to liberty and security of person, as well as on violations related to arrests; unlawful detentions; enforced disappearance, torture and inhumane punishments and treatment; freedom of opinion, expression, and peaceful assembly; freedom to hold political views, and to form political parties, and freedom to participate in free elections, in addition to violations related to the issue of refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and the freedom of movement. The report provides figures on these violations documented during the period between August 2020 and June 2024. The report also provides a summary of Syria’s legal and constitutional framework, and of the scope of Syria’s commitment under international human rights treaties, stressing that none of the current international human rights conventions and instruments ratified by Syria had any tangible effect on the formulation of the 2012 Constitution, or of any domestic laws and legislative articles. Indeed, as the report notes, the country’s current constitution blatantly contravenes the most fundamental human rights.

The report concludes by reiterating that the Syrian regime has practiced torture in a widespread and systematic manner. These torture practices have led to related outrages as severe as the loss of life, constituting blatant violations of international human rights law. It has also been well-established that the Syrian regime is fully aware of these practices, and of the fact that the inhumane detention conditions maintained in its prisons will eventually lead to death. Furthermore, the conscious decisions to carry out these practices have been issued from the very pinnacle of the regime’s power hierarchy, starting with the President of the Republic, who directly controls the ministries of interior and defense, the National Security Bureau, and their various subsidiary security agencies.

The report further stresses that the legislative process in Syria has been stripped of all standards regulating legislation, especially those related to the conflict. This process has also contravened constitutional and legal articles in many of the articles of legislation that have been promulgated. The legislative authority, i.e., the People’s Assembly of Syria, lacks any autonomy and is completely subservient to the executive branch in every way, from appointing its members to controlling the laws passed by it.

On July 10, 2024, the report reveals, SNHR took part in the informal briefing session that preceded the official consideration session for the Syrian Arab Republic. In the informal session, SNHR answered questions and inquiries from members of the UN Human Rights Committee. In the following two days, July 11-12, the formal sessions discussing Syria’s compliance with the ICCPR took place, during which the report submitted by the Syrian regime on its compliance with the ICCPR was considered. SNHR has also taken part in a formal briefing session by submitting a video package summarizing the SNHR report, including recommendations to the Committee.

Finally, the report welcomes the recommendations made by the UN Human Rights Committee, in addition to providing some comments on the closing observations of the Committee’s report.

Press release: (Download the full report below)

The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) today released a report to mark World Refugee Day 2024, in which the group notes that it has documented the arrest by Syrian regime forces of at least 4,714 refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) returning to Syria. SNHR has also documented the killing of 367 civilians, including 56 children, 34 women, and 43 who died due to torture, to date in Syria in the year 2024.

The report notes that the violations, which caused the displacement of millions of Syrians from their country in the first place, are still taking place across Syria. Indeed, the report stresses, even more Syrians than previously are now seeking asylum abroad. As a result of these violations that threaten fundamental human rights and human dignity, and to which there is no apparent prospect of any end in the foreseeable future or of the perpetrators being held to account, hundreds more Syrians are now trying to sell their properties and flee their homeland. The Syrian refugee population, currently estimated at 6.7 million, is today the largest single refugee population worldwide.

The report notes that SNHR has documented the killing of 367 civilians, including 56 children and 34 women, at the hands of the parties to the conflict and controlling forces in Syria since January 2024 up until June 2024. Of these, 53 civilians, including eight children and four women, were killed by Syrian regime forces, while five, including three children and one woman, were killed by Russian forces. Moreover, four of these civilians, including one child, were killed by ISIS, while another 16, including one child and one woman, were killed by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Furthermore, 10 of the civilians, including one child, were killed by all armed opposition factions/Syrian National Army (SNA), while another 33, including eight children, were killed by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Lastly, 246 of the 367 civilians, including 34 children and 28 women, were killed by other parties.

The report also notes that SNHR documented 43 deaths due to torture, including that of one child, in the detention centers operated by the various parties to the conflict and controlling forces in Syria since January 2024 up until June 2024. Of these, 22 died at the hands of regime forces, while 13 died at the hands of HTS. Moreover, four each died at the hands of both all armed opposition factions/SNA, and the SDF.

As the report further reveals, SNHR has documented that no fewer than 828 of those arrested between January and June 2024, including 44 children and 17 women, are still under arrest/forcibly disappeared. Of this total, 398 individuals, including five children and six women, were arrested by Syrian regime forces, while 59 others were arrested by the HTS. Another 140 of the detainees, including one child and six women, were arrested by all armed opposition factions/SNA, while the remaining 231 people detained, including 38 children and five women, were arrested by the SDF.

The report stresses that the responsibility for assessing the situation in Syria falls on the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (COI), international human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International, and active and specialist domestic groups such as SNHR. All these bodies have confirmed that Syria is unsafe.

To that end, SNHR has proven conclusively in dozens of reports that returning refugees are subjected to the same violations suffered by local residents in Syria, amid an absence of any credible legal environment and the predominance of oppression, despotism, and the centralization of authority. There can be no free and dignified return to Syria for refugees without first realizing a political transition in the country towards a democratic government that respects human rights.

Since the start of 2014 up until June 2024, SNHR has documented no fewer than 4,714 cases of arbitrary arrest/detention by Syrian regime forces of returning IDPs and refugees. Of these, 2,402 have been released, while 2,312 remain under arrest, including 1,521 who have been subsequently categorized as forcibly disappeared persons. Of the 4,714 arrested or detained, 3,532, including 251 children and 214 women (adult female), were refugees returning from countries of asylum or residence to their original places of residence in Syria. The Syrian regime has released 2,149 of the 3,532 arrested, while continuing to detain the remaining 1,383, 969 of whom have been subsequently categorized as forcibly disappeared persons. Additionally, 168 individuals, including six children and nine women, were forcibly repatriated from Lebanon since the start of April 2023 up until June 2024. Most of these were arrested by the Syrian regime’s Military Security Intelligence branch in al-Masna area on the Syrian-Lebanese border. Lastly, 1,014 of those arrested, including 22 children and 19 women, were IDPs returning from their areas of forced displacement to regime-held areas. Of those detained, the Syrian regime has released 253, while 761 remain under arrest, including 549 who have been subsequently categorized as forcibly disappeared persons.

SNHR has also documented the deaths of 39 of the returning refugees and IDPs due to torture in regime detention centers during the same period: 31 of these victims were refugees returning from their countries of asylum and eight were returning IDPs, six of whom had previously been forcibly deported from regime-controlled areas to northern Syria under the forced displacement agreements struck with the Syrian regime. SNHR has also documented no fewer than 93 cases of sexual violence against returning refugees in the same period.

The refoulment of refugees and the forced repatriation of Syrian refugees constitute blatant violations of customary international law. Any governments carrying out such practices bear legal responsibility for any torture, killing, enforced disappearance, and other violations potentially perpetrated by the Syrian regime against those forced to return, in addition, of course, to the Syrian regime’s direct responsibility for such violations.

The report stresses that seeking asylum is the right of every Syrian. Every state in which Syrians have requested asylum must grant them that right. The Syrian regime has committed and is committing numerous violations against the Syrian people that amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes. Meanwhile, the other parties to the conflict have committed a multitude of violations against the Syrian people, some of which amount to war crimes.

The report calls on the governments of states hosting Syrian refugees, especially neighboring countries which house the largest proportion of refugees, to stop their constant threats to deport these refugees back to Syria, which only causes further distress and anxiety amongst already traumatized refugees, threatens their material stability, and hinders the processes of social integration.

The report adds that the world’s states should uphold their responsibilities regarding the refugee crisis by taking in more refugees, instead of leaving neighboring countries to be overwhelmed by their refugee populations even as financial pledges of assistance keep declining. Democratic states must continue to take in refugees from neighboring countries, while raising their financial support for these states.

The report also makes a number of additional recommendations.

The aftermath of the airstrike on the house of Mer’ie al-Ramthan by fixed-wing warplanes believed to be affiliated with the Royal Jordanian Air Force – May 8, 2023

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The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) today released a report entitled, ‘Jordanian Forces and the Syrian Regime are Responsible for the Killing of Seven Syrian Civilians, including Five Children and One Woman’, in which the group notes that the Syrian regime is hiding Captagon traffickers among the Syrian people, and that Jordanian forces must respect international law.
According to the report, two warplanes, both of which, SNHR suspects, are affiliated with the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF), entered Syrian airspace from Jordan before carrying out two simultaneous attacks on two targets in southern Syria. The first attack took place near Kharab al-Shahm town in the western suburbs of Daraa governorate near the Jordanian-Syrian border. The targeted site was formerly a regime sewage treatment plant. At the time of the airstrike, which destroyed some buildings in the facility, the site was under the control of armed groups affiliated with Syrian regime forces and the Lebanese group Hezbollah. The report documented no civilian casualties from the airstrike, with the targeted site being under the control of combatants with no civilian presence. Meanwhile, the second attack was carried out against al-Sha’ab village in the far southeast of Suwayda governorate. The targeted site was a residential home occupied by the family of Mer’ie Ruwyshed al-Ramthan, a local from the village. Al-Ramthan, who is believed to have been the head of a massive drug trafficking network in southern Syria responsible for distributing Captagon and other narcotics, was a key figure responsible for recruiting and arming smugglers across the south of the country. He commanded a local armed militia whose manpower is estimated to number in the hundreds, centered in the desert ‘badiya’ of Suwayda, where it controls a number of areas. This militia is responsible for securing the trafficking routes and overseeing operations involving the transportation and smuggling of Captagon and other narcotics, as well as arms, in coordination and collaboration with the Syrian regime’s ‘al-Ferqa al-Rabe’a’ (Fourth Division), headed by Major General Maher Assad, brother of the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar Assad.
The report documented the killing of seven civilians in this airstrike, identified as: Mer’ie, his 36-year-old wife Hend al-Ramthan, and their five children whose ages ranged from two to 10 years old.
The report stresses that, given the highly centralized nature of the Syrian regime, it would be impossible to operate a narcotics-production and distribution network of such a massive scale as the one currently operating in areas under its control without its central approval and supervision. SNHR further notes in the report that it is an absurd notion to cooperate with the entity responsible for producing and distributing Captagon in operations to combat the same Captagon production networks, adding that Mer’ie al-Ramthan was just one of a large network of dozens of drug traffickers, all of whom operate under the command of the Syrian regime and Hezbollah. Killing any one of these figures will not put an end to Captagon production, with others quickly emerging to take their place.

The report also stresses that the Syrian regime and Hezbollah bear responsibility for hiding Captagon and narcotics traffickers among Syrian civilians, effectively endangering the lives of their families and of the local residents living in and around those areas. Further, the report notes that Jordanian military forces are responsible for killing civilians, including children, due to their failure to respect the principle of proportionality established in international law, which requires that, in determining the legitimacy or lack thereof in any attack, the attacking party should first assess the context. Any attacks that “may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated, is prohibited.” There must be always a balance between the means, the end, and the actual outcomes. SNHR has extremely strong indicators which suggest that the damage inflicted in this case was exceptionally excessive compared to the anticipated military advantage.

The report calls on the Security Council to adopt a resolution obliging the Syrian regime to cease the production of and trade in Captagon and other narcotics, and imposing strict UN sanctions in cases of non-compliance. Moreover, the report calls on the international community to take action against the Syrian regime and Hezbollah through every means possible, considering the fact that the production of Captagon and other addictive narcotics poses a threat to all the peoples of the world, and to renew pressure on the Security Council in order to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The report also calls on the Jordanian government to launch an investigation into this incident which resulted in the killing of civilians, including children, to make the findings of this investigation available to the public, and to end all forms of coordination with the Syrian regime that is the producer, manufacturer and distributor of Captagon. SNHR emphasizes that this failed policy of coordinating with the Syrian regime is the reason for this horrifying massacre.
The report also makes a number of other recommendations.

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The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights today released a report entitled, ‘The Syrian Regime Has Bombed the Areas Affected by the February 6 Earthquake 132 Times, including 29 Attacks that Targeted Areas Far from the Dividing Lines’, in which it noted that five civilians were killed, 42 others injured, and seven vital facilities damaged in attacks launched by the Syrian regime in the aftermath of the earthquake.

The 8-page report notes that northwestern Syria was one of the regions worst affected by the earthquake on February 6, 2023. This region houses the overwhelming majority of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Syria, estimated at 3.2 million in total, 75 percent of them women and children, who fled there from across Syria, in the hopes of escaping the brutal onslaught by the Syrian regime and its allies, Iran and Russia. It is estimated that the proportion of IDPs who have returned to their original areas to date amounts to less than two percent of the total, even though some of these IDPs live only a few kilometers from their homes, all due to their fear of further violations by the Syrian regime. In fact, this has been the longest internal displacement in modern history, worsened by the violations against IDPs in areas where they sought shelter, and by the declining levels of international support. The report adds that SNHR has documented hundreds of deliberate attacks against civilians and vital infrastructure in the areas to which the IDPs fled seeking safety. Furthermore, the Syrian regime deliberately severed IDPs’ access to all basic services, including water and electricity, even while insisting that the same regime should be the sole recipient and distributor of all UN humanitarian assistance due to its control of the Syrian state, despite its shameful history of murderous violence and its deliberate obstruction of the delivery of aid supplied, as well as its blatant theft of the overwhelming majority of this aid. All of the aforementioned factors, the report stresses, have only led to an increase in the death toll caused by the February 6 earthquake in northwestern Syria, with the final figure for the total number of deaths caused directly as a result of the catastrophic natural disaster in the region of northwestern Syria rising to 4,191 Syrians.
The report adds that the earthquake also resulted in the further displacement of 160,000 Syrians, most of whom had already been displaced on at least one occasion previously and who were already grappling with horrendous living conditions. The multilayered suffering and trauma of Syrians in northwest Syria has been further intensified by the aftershocks still taking place as of this writing. Roughly 80 percent of residents in the region have had to leave their homes and spend nights in the open air in freezing conditions, for fear of further destruction to buildings from any potential aftershocks, which protracted their suffering amid already dire living conditions and psychological trauma.
Moreover, the report notes that ground-based attacks by Syrian regime forces and their allies against the region of northwestern Syria continued throughout the nine weeks following the earthquake, February 6 until April 10, 2023, with some of these carried out against camps housing earthquake victims who were displaced once again as a result. The report documents no fewer than 132 ground-based attacks by Syrian regime forces in this period, including 29 attacks targeting areas far from the dividing lines. The attacks resulted in the deaths of five civilians, including one child, and injured 42 others, in addition to seven attacks on vital civilian facilities, including one school, one medical dispensary, one mosque, and two popular markets, with the report providing details of the most notable attacks.
The report concludes that the Syrian regime has unequivocally violated Security Council resolutions 2139 and 2254, which call for ending indiscriminate attacks, as well as violating the rules of international humanitarian law on the distinction between civilians and combatants. Furthermore, the report adds, the regime has demonstrated an unfathomable and unparalleled level of inhumanity by bombing areas already devastated by the earthquake, even while the entire world, both governments and states, showed sympathy for the victims.
The report calls on the Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC), adding that all those involved must be held accountable, and that the use of veto powers should be blocked in cases of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The report also calls for Imposing UN military and economic sanctions on the Syrian regime, especially on the heads of the regime who are involved in crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Additionally, the report calls on the UN and donor states to establish an international support platform to effectively and professionally coordinate humanitarian assistance in northwestern Syria. Such a body would act as an alternative option in addition to the UN, instead of relying fully and solely on the UN, with this reliance proven to be a failure in light of Russia’s extortion of the UN over the past 12 years.

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The Hague – In a report published today, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) welcomed the latest report released by the COI and the most recent Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution, which confirmed that violations continue in Syria, noting that only 12 states have voted against the HRC resolutions condemning violations against the Syrian people since March 2011, with the overwhelming majority of world states voting in support of the rights of the Syrian people.
The 10-page report sheds light on the 27th report released by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (COI), which was published on March 13, 2023. The report, which covers the period between July 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022, documents grave violations of fundamental human rights and humanitarian law across Syria. In this context, SNHR’s report includes a summary of the most notable points of the COI report, welcoming its recommendations and underlining SNHR’s support for the COI’s mandate and the investigations it has carried out since its establishment. The report also underscores SNHR’s cooperation with the COI since 2011.
Moreover, SNHR’s report welcomes the HRC resolution adopted on April 4, 2023, extending the mandate of the COI by one year.
As the report notes, the HRC resolution confirms that continue to be perpetrated in Syria. The report further states that all the findings of this resolution are in the interest of the Syrian people and state, against the perpetrators of violations against them. Despite this, however, the report reveals that five oppressive states voted in favor of the Syrian regime, namely China, Cuba, Bolivia, Eretria, and Algeria, although the majority of the member states voting, 26 states in all, voted in favor of the resolution and the Syrian people.
On a related note, the report includes a brief analysis of the states’ voting behavior on HRC resolutions on the state of human rights in Syria since March 2011. To that end, the report notes that a total of 41 resolutions were adopted by the HRC on Syria since the beginning of the popular uprising, including 14 resolutions regarding the establishment of the Fact-Finding Mission which later developed into the International Commission of Inquiry, as well as extending its mandate. The report stresses that a total of 12 states, united by shared characteristics of despotism, have consistently voted against HRC resolutions and in support of the Syrian regime since March 2011. The report adds that, in addition to this, these states are not only denying the violations committed by the regime, but through these denials are effectively encouraging the regime to commit more violations by promising to secure support for it at the HRC. The report includes a map showing the 12 states that have consistently voted against HRC resolutions condemning violations against the Syrian people between March 2011 and April 2023, namely Russia, China, Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Burundi, Armenia, Eretria, the Philippines, Algeria, Iraq, and Egypt, and provides a record of how many times each of those 12 states has voted. The report describes these states as “mutually supportive totalitarian states that are actively opposed to democracy and respect for international human rights law,” as well as being isolated rogue states.
As the report further confirms, the overwhelming majority of states worldwide have endorsed the HRC resolutions that support the rights of the Syrian people, and condemn the vicious violations against them. The report, in which SNHR expresses its immense gratitude to these states for showing their support for the rights of the Syrian people, also includes a map showing the states that have consistently voted in favor of HRC resolutions condemning the violations committed against the Syrian people since March 2011.

The report stresses that Russia is involved in committing violations that constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria, adding that this explains both why Russia voted, before its membership was suspended, against all HRC resolutions on Syria and why it fears the work of the COI. Meanwhile, the report stresses that most of the world’s countries refuse to support crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria.
The report calls on all the world’s states to respect HRC resolutions and comply with them, to stand in solidarity with just causes, and to always vote in favor of HRC resolutions condemning those nations that excessively violate fundamental human rights like the Syrian regime.
The report adds that authoritarian, dictatorial states, such as China, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, and Algeria, must not be elected to the HRC, because their very nature means they will always vote against human rights worldwide, with their votes on Syria serving as a stark example of this.
The report also makes a number of additional recommendations.

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Press Release:

Paris – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) today released its latest report, entitled, “Law No. 42/2022 Further Consolidates the Syrian Regime’s Central Authority and Erodes the Powers of the Local Administration Councils.”
The 7-page report explains that through Law No. 42, adopted in October 2022, the Syrian regime aims to consolidate the central authority of the regime and turn the local administration councils into mere administrative apparatuses controlled and operated by the central authority. The report also notes that according to Law No. 42, specifically Articles 1, 2, 3, and 4, contracts (whether leases, investment, or sale contracts) signed by the local administration councils should be officially approved through officials from the executive authority (i.e., the central authority). This law specifies that the approval of contracts is the responsibility of the economic committees which report to the head of the Council of Ministers (Article 1), Minister of Local Administration (Article 2), Minister of Tourism (Article 3), or the Governor (Article 4). Which specific authority is responsible for approving a given contract is dictated only by the value of said contract.
The report lists four reasons that make Law No. 42 an instrument to consolidate the Syrian regime’s central authority. First, the law asserts the complete and utter absence of the supposed autonomy that the regime claims to have bestowed upon local administration councils according to Article 30 of Legislative Decree 107/2011 on Local Administration Law. This manifests itself in a number of ways: for instance, the fact that local administration councils must refer to officials of the executive authority to obtain approval for any economic contracts signed at the local level demonstrates the absence of administrative autonomy, which also undermines these councils’ financial autonomy, with this legislation implying that local administration councils do not have the right to make their own financial and administrative decisions, contradicting Legislative Decree No. 107/2011 that regulates local administration.
Second, Law No. 42 exposes another of the Syrian regime’s lies, namely its false claim that it will give local administration councils ‘decentralized’ powers according to Article 2 of Legislative Decree No. 107/2011 on local administration. The fact that local administration councils have to refer to the executive authority to obtain approval for financial contracts (lease, investment, or sale contracts) shows that they are simply standard apparatuses that report to the executive authority as seen under any centralized regime, emphatically discrediting any claims of decentralization.
Third, the report reveals that Law No. 42 gives the regime’s central authority the final say on any financial decisions, effectively stripping the local administration councils of any financial autonomy. Even more egregiously, the Syrian regime is trying to seize local resources, which are supposedly at the disposal of the local administration councils for the service of citizens. However, having the regime’s central authority approve any contracts by the local administration councils gives the regime the power to determine the outcome of those contracts, in a manner devoid of any of the transparency or credibility that should be found in any contract for a lease, investment, or sale. It will not be difficult for the Syrian regime to manipulate those contracts to its benefit and the benefit of its clients as long as the power to approve contacts is in the hands of its regulatory organs. In short, tying contracts to the regime’s central authority makes them another stream of clientelism and leverage enhancing the Syrian regime’s power and wealth.
Fourth, the report stresses that the text of Law No. 42 is yet another case in a long list of contradictory laws that negate one another to the Syrian regime’s benefit, as Syrians have become all too familiar with by now. As shown in Law No. 42 and Legislative Decree 107/2011 on Local Administration Law, these contradictions can be found in many legal texts. Even though Legislative Decree 107/2011 nominally establishes the principles of decentralization and autonomy, Law No. 42, and other laws erode and obstruct these articles of legislation that supposedly aim to ensure greater democracy, violating the most basic principles of decentralization and autonomy.
The report recommends that the international community accelerates the steps required to reach a political resolution in Syria that should enable the Syrian people to hold free and fair political, parliamentary, and local elections that respect electoral regulations. Moreover, the report calls on the international community to condemn the laws issued by the Syrian regime which violate the rights of millions of Syrians and are enforced by force and arms.
In addition, the report calls on the Syrian regime to hold fair and democratic presidential election, and to cease its seizure of the financial channels of local administration councils, as well as making a number of other recommendations.

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Press Release:

Paris – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) stressed in a report released today that UN Special Rapparortuer Alina Douhan should demand that the Syrian regime ends its violations and crimes against humanity as a precondition for lifting sanctions that were not imposed in a vacuum, but as a consequence of the violations that the regime committed, with some qualifying as crimes against humanity. The coercive measures, SNHR notes, were imposed after the Syrian regime had committed thousands of human rights violatoins against the Syrian people and state, which the regime has continued doing to this day.
The six-page report notes that the Security Council has failed to impose any sanctions on the Syrian regime, or to put an end to the regime’s contiuned violations that include crimes against humanity, which have threatened peace and security, and have displaced millions of Syrians. Meanwhile, the UN has yet to impose any sanctions on the Syrian regime, including an ams embargo.
Executive Director of SNHR Fadel Abdul Ghany says:
“As the Security Council has failed to deter the violations of the Surian regime and bring about a resolution to the armed conflict, some states and entities have imposed sanctions of their own of the Syrian regime for its violations, some of which amount to crimes against humanity. Those violations, including torture, enforced disappearance, forced displacement, and seizure of properties, are still being committed to this very day. The Syrian regime has never launched an investigation into the killing and disappearance of tens of thousands of Syrians, never held any of its members accountable, and never compensated any victim. Therefore, we believe that more sanctions must be imposed on thousands of implicated individuals from the Syrian regime, in order to combat the culture of impunity.”
The report notes that Alena Douhan, the UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, will be visiting Syria between October 30 and November 10 to “gather first-hand information on the impact of unilateral coercive measures on the full realization of all human rights in the country.” Ms. Douhan will “pay particular attention to issues such as secondary sanctions, sanctions over-compliance and the sanctions-induced obstacles to the realisation of the sustainable development goals and the right to development.” She is set to submit her final report to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2023.
Remarking on the statement, the report stresses that the overwhelming majority of Syrian regime officials are implicated in committing violations against the Syrian people. The same applies to the members of the People’s Assembly, who have been appointed by the regime’s security services, with one-third of them being directly involved in committing or supporting violations against the Syrian people. None of these officials in any way represent the interests of the Syrian people. Rather, they blindly support the Syrian regime against the interests of the Syrian people.
The report highlights doubts about the visit and its goals, based on its assessment of a past press release issued by Ms. Douhan that was released only three days before the end of 2020 (December 28, 2020), in whch she addressed the US sanctions, describing them as “unilateral coercive measures”. The report details four reservations about Ms. Douhan’s statements, including the fact that she did not refer to any of the reasons that prompted some states to impose sanctions on the Syrian regime. Additionally, Mrs. Douhan’s statement did not mention that all of the sanctions imposed on the regime by European countries, the US, Canada, Turkey, and Australia explicitly exclude relief and medical supplies. Further, the report stresses that many “unliteral coercive” measures have been taken against the Syrian people, which were far more threatening to human rights than imposing sanctions on the Syrian regime. Some notable examples include Iran deploying tens of thousands of its militants from around the world to Syria, which have been involved in human rights violations that qualify as war crimes, as well as Russia deploying mercenary companies such as Wagner, which have been involved in direct killings and widespread lootings, and the thousands of Lebanon-based, Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters who crossed into Syria and occupied and looted dozens of neighborhoods and areasmotivated by sectarian considerations.
On the other hand, the report notes that it does not disagree with Ms. Douhan on the sanctions’ side-effects impacting civilians. It is not possible to punish a dictatorship like the Syrian regime and its security arms that have permeated every aspect of the Syrian people’s lives without it affecting Syrian society. However, the report notes, there are other aspects of the economic suffering of the Syrian people that are far more serious than the sanctions imposed on the Syrian regime, such as the regime displacing 14 million Syrian citizens, the arrest and disappearance of roughly 136,000 Syrian citizens at the hands of the Syrian regime, and the Syrian regime being ranked as the second-worst regime globally on the Corruption Perception Index for the year 2021.
Moreover, the report stresses that sanctions alone are not enough to put pressure on the Syrian regime. If they had been, it would not have been possible for the regime to survive and keep committing war crimes and crimes against humanity for 11 years. Other forms of sanctions must be enacted alongside the economic ones, including military sanctions. This should be done in tandem with at the expression of serious political willpower through serious action within a strict timed plan with the objective of bringing about political transition towards a government that respects democracy and human rights.
The report calls on Ms. Douhan to constantly remind herself that she is meeting with a regime that has been implicated in crimes against humanity against the Syrian people, and treat it accordingly. Further, the report says that Ms. Douhan should call on the Syrian regime to end all its violations, including torture and enforced disappearence, return propertiesand lands to their rightful owners, and compensate all victims. This is the only way to lift the sanctions.
Additionally, the report calls on the Human Rights Council to thoroughly familiarize itself with the details of the work of the UN Special Rapporteurs and with their political and ideological views. The Human Rights Council should also assess the sanctions imposed on the Syrian regime in a professional and objective way, and call on the Security Council to take action and impose UN sanctions on the Syrian regime that includes an arms embargo.
The report also makes a number of other recommendations.

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Displaced children in a camp in Rajo town, Aleppo, following a blizzard that hit the area – January 19, 2022 | Photo by Muhammad Nour

Press release:
Paris – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) today issued its report entitled ‘On World Refugee Day: Ongoing Atrocious Violations in Syria Are the Main Reason for Generating More Refugees’, stressing that refugees and IDPs, who now comprise half the Syrian population, will be unable to safely return to Syria until it achieves a political transition towards democracy.

The nine-page report provides the record of the most notable violations as documented in the SNHR’s database, with the percentages of their distribution given according to the perpetrators of violations, with SNHR documenting the deaths of 228,893 civilians, including 29,791 children and 16,252 women (adult female), in Syria at the hands of the parties to the conflict and the controlling forces, between March 2011 and June 2022. The report notes that the Syrian regime is by far the most prolific killer of civilians in Syria, accounting for nearly 88% of the total death toll, followed by Russian forces who are responsible for nearly 3%, meaning that the Syrian regime and affiliated Iranian militias, together with the Russian regime, are jointly responsible for the deaths of nearly 91% of the civilians killed since the start of the popular uprising in March 2011.

The report reveals that at least 14,685 individuals, including 181 children and 94 women (adult female), have been killed to date under torture at the hands of the parties to the conflict and the controlling forces in Syria. Regarding arbitrary arrest/detention or enforced disappearance, the report notes that at least 151,462 individuals, including 5,093 children and 9,774 women (adult female), are still under arrest/detained or forcibly disappeared at the hands of the parties to the conflict and the controlling forces in Syria, having been arrested between March 2011 and June 2022.

The report stresses that the atrocious violations are still ongoing in Syria, committed by various parties to the conflict and the controlling forces, adding that these primary violations have been the direct cause of the forced displacement of millions of Syrians. As a result of all this, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that nearly 13.4 million Syrians are now either IDPs or refugees, including nearly 6.7 million IDPs, some of whom have been displaced more than once, and nearly 6.6 million refugees, the vast majority of whom are in neighboring countries.

The report notes that some of the violations committed against the people of Syria have affected a number of the returning refugees, despite the very small number of refugees returning compared to the total number of Syrian refugees now scattered around the world. The report further notes that the harsh conditions in the countries of asylum, primarily neighboring countries, have forced some Syrian refugees to return to unsafe areas under the Syrian regime’s control.
As the report further reveals, some of the returning refugees have been subjected to many types of violations following their return, most notably arbitrary arrest and the accompanying violations which inevitably follow this, namely torture, followed by enforced disappearance. Since the beginning of 2014 up to June 2022, SNHR has documented at least 3,057 cases of arbitrary arrest, including of 244 children and 203 women (adult female), of refugees who returned from countries of asylum or residence to their areas of residence in Syria (with the vast majority of these returning from Lebanon). All those detained were arbitrarily arrested by Syrian regime forces. The Syrian regime subsequently released 1,874 of these detainees, while 1,183 of those arrested remained in detention, with 813 of them classified as forcibly disappeared. The report also records at least 72 cases of sexual violence against returning refugees during the same period.
The report points out that although some countries that wish to return Syrian refugees are attempting to justify their position by citing the ‘presidential amnesty’ recently issued by the Syrian regime, the documentation process carried out by the SNHR has confirmed that only about 539 people have been released from the regime’s various civil and military prisons and security branches in the Syrian governorates, including 61 women and 16 people who were children at the time of their arrest, between May 1, 2022, and June 13, 2022. The SNHR also confirms that the Syrian regime is still detaining some 132,000 other people and has launched new waves of arbitrary arrests since issuing the amnesty decree, detaining a further 57 Syrian citizens.
The report also stresses that the attempts by a number of European countries to deport refugees constitute a violation of international law; in this context comes the British government’s attempt to transfer a group of refugees, including Syrian refugees, to Rwanda. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has confirmed that Rwanda is an unsafe country whose own citizens and other residents suffer from serious human rights violations, which the British government itself has criticized. The report adds that no government has the right to assess the situation in Syria and then, based on this assessment, take decisions to deport the Syrian refugees on its territory to Syria.

The report recommends that the governments of countries sheltering Syrian refugees should stop their constant threats of deportation to Syria, because these constitute an additional source of psychological anxiety, a threat to refugees’ financial stability, and disrupt their social integration processes. The report also recommends that the UNHCR should take clear, repeated, and public positions in responding to governments that constantly threaten and manipulate refugees in accordance with domestic political interests.
The report also provides several other additional recommendations.

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Press release:
Paris – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) released a report today marking the fifth anniversary of the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons attack on Khan Sheikhoun city in April 2017, and the fourth anniversary of its chemical weapons attack on Douma city in April 2018, entilted ‘The Syrian Regime’s Chemical Attacks on Khan Sheikhoun and Douma Remain with No Accountability for Five Years,” in which SNHR points out that Russia is practicing the same tactics in Ukraine which it has practiced in Syria concerning Chemical Weapons.

The nine-page report notes that five and four years respectively since the chemical attacks on Khan Sheikhoun and Douma, Syrians are still witnessing more entrenchment of the current, wholly unacceptable culture of impunity. The report recalls the death tolls for the two attacks, with the SNHR team documenting the deaths by suffocation of 91 civilians, including 32 children and 23 women (adult female), and the injury of about 520 individuals, when the regime used chemical weapons against Khan Sheikhoun city in Idlib governorate on April 4, 2017, and subsequently documenting the deaths of 39 civilians, including 10 children and 15 women (adult female), and the injury of about 550 individuals, when the regime used chemical weapons against Douma city in Damascus Suburbs governorate the next year, on April 7, 2018.

As the report reveals, Russia backed the Syrian regime’s use of weapons of mass destruction, and the repeated use of chemical weapons in hundreds of attacks and enabled the regime to enjoy impunity for 11 years, due to all these crimes taking place under complete Russian protection and sponsorship; Russia is directly involved in the Syrian regime’s concealment of large quantities of chemical weapons on the grounds that it is a party to the Russian-US agreement in September 2013, as well as a guarantor of the Syrian regime’s destruction of all its chemical weapons. The report further notes that Russia is a partner in contributing to the chemical attack in Saraqeb on February 4, 2018, providing direct military support to the Syrian regime in at least three chemical attacks.

The report adds that Russia is a party to the conflict in Syria and is involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity, noting that Russia’s use of its veto in the Security Council paves the way for it to continue its crimes, recalling Russia’s use of the veto six times in the Security Council against draft resolutions related to the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The report stresses that the use of its veto was deliberate, with Russia using three vetoes to terminate the mandate of the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) at the end of 2017 after the JIM confirmed the Syrian regime’s responsibility for the chemical attacks in Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017. Russia also vetoed a draft resolution calling for an investigation into those who used chemical weapons in Douma in April 2018.

As the report further notes, Russian forces have increased the intensity of their brutal attacks in Ukrain since their invasion of the country on February 24, 2022, to a level close to that of their attacks in Syria, adding that Russia uses the same tactic in Ukraine and Syria and there are international concerns over the possibility of Russia using weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine.

The report also notes that SNHR has documented a total of 222 chemical attacks on Syria since the first attack using chemical weapons documented on SNHR’s database on December 23, 2012, up until April 7, 2022, with 217 of these attacks – approximately 98% – carried out at the hands of Syrian regime forces, and the five other attacks – approximately 2% – at the hands of ISIS.
As the report further reveals, the Syrian regime’s attacks caused the deaths of 1,510 individuals, categorized as 1,409 civilians, including 205 children and 260 women (adult female), 94 Armed Opposition fighters, and seven Syrian regime prisoners of war who were being held in Armed Opposition prisons.
These chemical attacks also injured 11,080 individuals, including five Syrian regime prisoners of war who were being held in Armed Opposition prisons.
ISIS, meanwhile, carried out five chemical attacks since its establishment on April 9, 2013, which resulted in the injury of 132 individuals.

The report assigns direct responsibility for the movement and use of chemical weapons to the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al Assad, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the Armed Forces, affirming that it is not even possible to carry out actions far smaller than this without his knowledge and approval, let alone such a major operation. The report notes that International Humanitarian Law takes into account the hierarchical nature of the armed forces and the discipline imposed by leaders and holds commanders criminally responsible at the personal level, not only for the actions and breaches they have personally committed but also for the actions committed by their subordinates. The report adds that the relation of the head of the regime and its leaders and the very strict and centralized chain of command all mean that the head of the Syrian regime Bashar al Assad and his senior leadership officials are all directly involved, through the use of chemical weapons of mass destruction, in committing violations that amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Syrian people. With regard to the use of chemical weapons, the report reveals that the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the Armed Forces, his deputy, the Director of the Air Force, the Air Intelligence Department, the commanders of military airbases, and the squadron directors and brigades of the Republican Guard, in addition to the directors of scientific research units bear the greatest responsibility for the use of this weapon. The report notes that the SNHR’s database includes data on at least 387 prominent army and security officers, civil and military personnel in research and scientific studies centers that specialize in providing and supplying chemicals used militarily in Syria, who are accused of ordering or carrying out chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

The report stresses that it had been assumed that, after the United Nations and the OPCW’s accurate and highly credible investigations, the UN Security Council would move to take all forms of active measures, including the imposition of economic, political, and military sanctions, against the Syrian regime, which has violated all the relevant Security Council resolutions – Resolution No. 2118, Resolution No. 2209, and Resolution No. 2235. The report notes that, despite this reasonable assumption, this has not happened to date, even after the passage of five and four full years respectively since the two attacks, with the families and friends of the civilians who were killed and injured still waiting for justice and accountability for the perpetrators.
In addition, the report emphasizes, the international community must prevent the recurrence of its mistakes that allowed unspeakable evil to be perpetrated against civilians in Syria, in order to prevent the repetition of such horrors in Ukraine, and must correct the catastrophic mistakes that occurred in the chemical weapons file in Syria, starting with the promises of the ‘red line,’ and also including remedying the lack of any accountability for the Syrian regime and its Russian ally.

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Press release:

Paris- The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reveals in its latest report, issued to mark the International Day for Mine Awareness, that Syria is among the world’s worst countries for the number of mines planted in unknown locations, noting that 2,829 civilians, including 699 children, have been killed by mines in Syria since 2011 to date.

The seven-page report explains that April 4 marks the annual International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, with this date in 2022 coming just after Syrians commemorated the milestone of 11 years since the start of the popular uprising in Syria which subsequently turned into an internal armed conflict, adding that the different parties to the conflict have used mines extensively, which has caused hundreds of deaths and injuries. The report explains that the Syrian regime, in particular, possesses tens of thousands of mines, noting that the ease and low cost of manufacturing mines have also enabled other parties to the conflict to use them extensively, with all parties showing absolute indifference to disclosing their locations or clearing them, and stressing that this means that their lethal danger has been extended for many decades and threatens the lives and movement of Syrian citizens, particularly children.

The report defines anti-personnel and anti-vehicle landmines as weapons designed to be placed under or above the ground, then to explode because of the proximity or contact of a person or vehicle, adding that this weapon, which is prohibited under international law, is arbitrary and indiscriminate. The report further notes that one of the most prominent difficulties and special challenges facing SNHR and preventing it from assigning responsibility for the killings caused by landmines to a specific party involved in the conflict, is that most of the parties to the conflict use this type of weapon, in addition to the multiple changes of control by parties to the conflict and forces over the areas where minefields exist. None of the parties to the conflict and the controlling forces in Syria have revealed maps of the locations where they planted landmines. As the report further notes, SNHR believes there are dozens of minefields that have yet to be discovered.

Between March 2011 to April 4, 2022, the report reveals, SNHR documented the deaths of at least 2,829 civilians, including 699 children, 294 women (adult female), eight medical personnel, six Civil Defense personnel, and nine media personnel, due to hundreds of mine explosion incidents in various Syrian governorates. Analysis of SNHR’s data showed that nearly half of landmine victims were killed in Aleppo and Raqqa governorates, with the death toll from landmine explosions in both governorates comprising approximately 49% of the total death toll, followed by Deir Ez-Zour governorate with approximately 17% of the total. The report provides charts for the distribution of the death toll due to mines by years since March 2011, noting that the cumulative indicator shows that nearly one-third of the death toll was documented in 2017, which saw the highest death toll compared to the other years.

The report stresses that the massive death toll of victims killed by mines in Syria further confirms the need for the world to be free from these heinous weapons. The report also notes that despite SNHR’s documentation of continuous horrific deaths and injuries due to the use of landmines and our repeated heartfelt appeals for all sides to end their use, along with urgent requests for the essential intervention of international teams to help expose the locations where landmines are deployed and to put pressure on the controlling forces in Syria to determine their locations of deployment in order to reduce the number of casualties among civilians resulting from them, these abysmal weapons continue to be used.

The report recommends increasing the support for organizations working in clearing landmines, especially the Syrian Civil Defense (White Helmets), and achieving measurable progress in the quality of life for victims of mines and cluster munitions.

The report calls on the Security Council and the international community to increase logistical assistance to local organizations and local police working in the field of detecting and dismantling mines, to begin to compensate victims and their families, and to focus on provision of the psychological treatment process for survivors, as well as making other additional recommendations.

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