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The Hague – Syrian Network for Human Rights:
On Tuesday, July 30, 2024, The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) participated in an event held in London, entitled, ‘Achieving Justice in Syria: Challenges and Opportunities for the New UK Government’, which was jointly organized by the Syrian British Consortium (SBC) and Amnesty International UK. The event panelists discussed the ongoing efforts to achieve justice in Syria, and the SBC’s recent report on the crimes committed in Damascus University by the National Union of Syrian Students (NUSS). The panelists also discussed the instrumental role of the international community, including the UK government, in supporting efforts to attain justice in Syria.
The event featured Dr. Yaman Alqadri, a clinical psychologist and survivor of NUSS violations; Dr. Yasmine Nahlawi of the SBC; Mazen Darwish, Director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM); and Fadel Abdulghany, SNHR Executive Director, with Emma Beals of the Middle East Institute, acting as moderator.
In his address, Mr. Abdulghany shed light on the state of human rights in Syria in 2024, noting that SNHR has continued to document extrajudicial killings of civilians since the start of year, including in July. As of the start of July, 2024, he revealed the group had so far documented the killing of no fewer than 429 civilians, including 65 children and 38 women, as well as four medical personnel, at the hands of the parties to the conflict and controlling forces in Syria. In addition, he continued, SNHR had recorded no fewer than 1,236 cases of arbitrary arrest/detention, with the detainees including 56 children and 30 women, at the hands of the parties to the conflict and controlling forces in Syria in the same period, while at least 53 individuals, including one child, have died due to torture at the hands of the parties to the conflict and controlling forces in Syria.
Mr. Abdulghany also highlighted the Syrian regime’s continuing arrests and detentions of refugees forcibly deported from Lebanon, and of internally displaced persons (IDPs) trying to return to their areas of origin in regime-held areas. In that regard, Mr. Abdulghany emphasized that the regime’s persistent practices of arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, and torture, have repeatedly violated the order issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The SNHR head added that SNHR had recorded at least 57 attacks on vital civilian facilities at the hands of the parties to the conflict and controlling forces in Syria between the start of 2024 and the beginning of July.