In the Nine Months Since the ICJ Issued its Order, the Syrian Regime Has Killed at least 43 Individuals due to Torture, and Arrested At least 756 Civilians, Including Nine Children and 24 Women

SNHR’s Third Periodic Monitoring Report Proves the Syrian Regime’s Blatant Violation of the ICJ’s Order: the ICJ Must Conduct an Evaluation of the Regime’s Compliance

The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights:

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) today, Thursday, August 15, 2024, released its third periodic monitoring report entitled, ‘In the Nine Months Since the ICJ Issued its Order, the Syrian Regime Has Killed at least 43 Individuals due to Torture, and Arrested At least 756 Civilians, Including Nine Children and 24 Women‘, stressing that this latest report again proves the Syrian regime’s blatant violation of the Order issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as the ICJ must carry out an evaluation of the regime’s compliance and issue a statement on its findings. This latest SNHR report on the issue is the third report in a series of reports and news articles released by the group as part of its daily efforts to monitor the Syrian regime’s compliance with the ICJ Order issued on November 16, 2023.

The data contained in this report shows a continuation of the same pattern; that is to say, the Syrian regime continues to blatantly violate international law. Despite the binding legal obligations upon the Syrian regime, it has failed to take any actual steps to end torture in its detention centers. On the contrary, SNHR has documented that the Syrian regime is noticeably targeting residents of areas under its control, as well as refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) returning to these areas, showing an utter disregard for the ICJ’s Order, as the regime continues to commit crimes and violations against detainees and forcibly disappeared persons. The report also stresses that the Syrian regime has persistently demonstrated utter disregard for the ICJ’s Order and for the demands of most of the mandates of the special procedures at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), as well as the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, especially on the issue of detention and torture. Despite thousands of items of evidence and accounts proving and documenting the continuing nature of these practices, the regime has not taken even one step to end them. All these points underline the imperative need to take decisive action to put pressure on the Syrian regime, including imposing sanctions and enforcing a diplomatic blockade, in order to compel the regime to show respect for human rights, and ensure that those responsible can no longer be shielded by impunity.

During the period between the issuance of the ICJ’s Order on November 16, 2023, and August 15, 2024, SNHR has documented the commission of serious human rights violations in a systematic manner in Syrian regime detention centers. These include torture and physical and psychological assaults against detainees. In this period, SNHR has documented at least 756 cases of arbitrary arrest at the hands of Syrian regime forces, including of nine children and 24 women, with all those detained being held in various regime detention centers. Of these 756 arrested, 97 have been released, while the remaining 659 have been categorized as enforced disappearance cases. These cases also include a number of arrests involving ‘refugees and IDPs’ who returned to regime-held areas. There have been also arrests targeting refugees and IDPs who were trying to return to their original areas, now under regime control. Some of the refugees affected returned from Lebanon and Türkiye via the Kasab Border Crossing and Damascus International Airport in Damascus city. As of this writing, SNHR has documented at least 156 arbitrary arrests/detentions by Syrian regime forces targeting refugees/IDPs who were attempting to return to regime-held areas, including two children and five women (adult female), since the start of 2024.

Additionally, since the ICJ issued its Order on November 16, 2023, up until August 15, 2024, SNHR has documented no fewer than 43 deaths due to torture in regime detention centers. Only four of the victims’ bodies have been returned to their families. Among those 43 victims were at least four former refugees who had either been forcibly deported or had returned to regime-held areas. In addition, SNHR has recorded 16 cases of people classified as forcibly disappeared who have been registered as dead in the civil registry records between November 16, 2023 and August 15, 2024. Among these cases are victims from the same families, political activists, and university students. In all the cases, the cause of death was not given, and the Syrian regime has not returned the victims’ bodies to their families or notified the families of their loved ones’ deaths at the time they took place. The group suspects that the Syrian regime is sending newly released information about forcibly disappeared persons to the civil registry offices to register their deaths.

The report concludes that the Syrian regime is still committing acts of torture of every variety, beginning with arbitrary arrest, which is, in and of itself, a form of torture since it is carried out in a manner more akin to an abduction than a legitimate arrest with no judicial warrant being shown. The process of arrest also involves the use of excessive violence and beatings of various types and degrees, which usually begin from the very first moment of the arrest, and continue throughout the detention period, which also includes subjecting detainees to cruel and inhumane detention conditions, as well as referring them to exceptional security courts, where trials are conducted in a way that is closer to an interrogation at a security facility than a legitimate courtroom trial.

The report stresses that this case is a genuine test of the credibility and power of the ICJ. As such, the ICJ must take immediate and effective measures to address these violations and ensure the realization of justice and accountability. All possible measure must be taken against the Syrian regime, including the UN Security Council issuing a binding resolution calling for ending systematic torture, all of which constitute crimes against humanity, and unequivocally condemning the Syrian regime’s breach of the ICJ’s Order.

The report also calls on the UN Security Council to impose targeted sanctions on Syrian officials who have been directly involved in torture and arbitrary arrest, or those responsible for such practices. Furthermore, the report calls on the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture to continue to monitor the Syrian regime’s compliance with the ICJ Order and release periodic statements stressing and clarifying the regime’s failure to comply. In addition, the report calls on the Arab League to take a clear stance against the Syrian regime’s brutal practices that continue to kill Syrian people under torture, and to re-suspend Syria’s membership of the Arab League until it demonstrates greater compliance with the ICJ’s Order, as well as making a number of other recommendations.