I. Background:
On August 25, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) submitted a report to the Human Rights Committee established by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, with the aim of informing it of the most notable violations committed by the Syrian regime which contravened a large number of articles of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, with many of these violations having expanded, amounting to the level of crimes against humanity. This report is submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee as it prepares to address a number of issues related to the Syrian Arab Republic at the 130th session (which will be held between October 12 and November 6, 2020).
The task of the Committee is to monitor the implementation of Covenant obligations by States parties. It is an impartial and elected committee whose members represent all parts of the world. Regarding Syria, it has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights since 1969, and therefore the ruling authority must submit reports on the measures it has adopted which give effect to the rights recognized herein and on the progress made in the enjoyment of those rights whenever the Committee requests it to do so.
However, the Syrian regime headed by Bashar al Assad has not submitted any report to the Committee since 2004, and therefore it continues to neglect and show its contempt for human rights and the principles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In addition to this, considering that our country, Syria, has been subjected to a massive wave of human rights violations at the hands of the ruling authority since after the outbreak of the popular uprising in March 2011, the Committee was supposed to request the Syrian regime to prepare reports additional to periodic reports, or to advance the date for submitting the periodic report.
We believe that there is nothing that the Syrian regime can write in any such report, as it violates the vast majority of the articles of the Covenant in a systematic and widespread manner, and in the event that the Syrian regime continues to ignore submitting any report, then the Committee must clarify this to the United Nations General Assembly in its annual report.