HomeMonthly ReportsDetainees and Forcibly Disappeared Persons579 Individuals Arrested in February 2018

579 Individuals Arrested in February 2018

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Most Arrests Were for the Purpose of Recruitment

SNHR

By: DanHenson1, iStockphoto

SNHR said today in its special monthly report that documents cases of arbitrary arrest at the hands of the parties to the conflict in Syria that no less than 579 arrest cases were recorded in February 2018.
 
The report notes that arbitrary arrests have been made in Syria on a daily basis since the start of the popular uprising for democracy in March 2011 for simply exercising one of their basic rights such as the freedom of opinion and expression, or because they were denied a fair trial, or because they were detained after their punishment had ended. According to the report, arbitrarily detained individuals are subjected to solitary confinement for several months or sometimes years if not indefinitely at official and non-official detention centers in most cases.
 
The report stresses that the Syrian regime is responsible for no less than 87% of all arbitrary arrests. In most cases, victims’ families can’t accurately identify the entity that made the arrest, considering that all of the forces that sided with the Syrian regime (Iranian militias, the Lebanese group Hezbollah, and others), aside from the four main security agencies and their many branches, have the authority to arrest, torture, and commit the crimes of enforced-disappearance.
 
Furthermore, the report notes that the issue of detainees is almost the only issue that has yet to see any progress despite all the negotiations, agreements, and Cessation of Hostilities statements.
 
The report notes that the mounting number of arrests is due to a number of reasons. Most notably, the fact that many detainees weren’t arrested over a crime they committed, but because of their relatives’ involvement with armed opposition factions or because they were involved themselves with humanitarian relief. Also, most of the arrests are made randomly and involve people who have no association with the popular uprising or relief efforts, or even military. In addition, many groups affiliated to Syrian regime forces have the authority to make arrests, and carry out arbitrary arrests with the lack of any judicial supervisions by government authorities.
 
The report documents the toll of arbitrary arrests in February, and monitors the most notable raid and inspection points that resulted in detentions. The report also outlines the most notable individual cases and incidents of arbitrary arrest.
 
The report sheds light on the strict standards incorporated by the report in order to determine an incident of arbitrary arrests, as the report avoids recording any incidents of detention, imprisonment, or deprivation of freedom in accordance with the international laws and the set of principles on arbitrary arrest. The report draws upon verifying information from various sources, such as: victims’ families, SNHR members in Syrian governorates, cooperating local activists, and former detainees, in addition to contacting the families of the detainees and forcibly-disappeared persons, as well as people close to them and people who survived detention for the purpose of collecting as much information and data as possible, in light of extraordinarily and extremely complex challenges.
 
The report says that Syrian regime forces carried out wide arrest and raid campaigns in February as Syrian regime forces carried out wide raid and arrest campaigns in the center of main cities, as well as universities, government departments, and markets. These arrests were centered in the governorates of Hama, Latakia, Damascus, and Aleppo. In February, Syrian regime forces continued its policy of arresting armed opposition fighters’ family members to use them in prisoner exchange deals.
Kurdish Self-Management forces, on the other hand, continued their policies of making arbitrary arrests for the purpose of conscription. The arbitrary arrests concentrated on young men between the ages of 18-24. It should be noted also that these forces made tens of arrests that involved younger age groups, including 14 years of age regardless of their sex, as these arrests included girls as well. These arrests were concentrated in Hasaka governorate.
ISIS also continued carrying out arrests and raids against civilians in February in their areas of control. Most of the arrests made by the group were for the purpose of conscription – especially in the areas that remain under their control in Deir Ez-Zour governorate.
In addition, Hay’at Tahrir al Sham carried out wide arrests that targeted local councils, unions, and some houses for armed opposition faction affiliates especially in western suburbs of Aleppo governorate in light of the ongoing fighting between the group and a number of armed opposition factions.
 
The report outlines the toll of arbitrary arrests in February, as the report records no less than 579 detainees. Of those, Syrian regime forces arrested 412, including 17 children and 38 women (adult female).
Self-Management forces arrested 51 individuals, including six children and two women, while ISIS arrested 39 individuals, including three children. Hay’at Tahrir al Sham, arrested 61 individuals, all men. Lastly, factions from the armed opposition arrested 16 individuals, including one child.
 
The report also shows a distribution of cases of arbitrary arrests by governorate, where Damascus and its suburbs governorates saw the most arrests with 160 cases of arrest.
 
In addition, the report says that 153 inspection and raid points resulted in cases of detention across governorates. Most of these points were in Damascus governorate, while Syrian regime forces were responsible for most of the raids, followed by Kurdish Self-Management forces.
 
The report calls on the Security Council to follow on the implementation of resolution 2042, 2043, and 2139 which states that enforced-disappearance should be cease.
 
Additionally, the report calls on the Human Rights Council to follow on the issue of detainees and forcibly-disappeared persons in Syria, and shed light on it in all of the annual meetings.
 
Also, the report calls on the Commission of Inquiry (COI) and the International, Impartial, and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) to launch investigations on the incidents included in this report and past reports. The report stresses that SNHR is willing to cooperate and provide more evidences and data.
 
The report stresses that the U.N. and the guarantor parties at Astana should form an impartial special committee to monitor cases of arbitrary arrest, and reveal the fate of 86,000 missing persons in Syria, including 87% at the hands of the Syrian regime. The report adds that pressure should be applied on all parties in order to immediately reveal their detention records in accordance with a time table, immediately make their whereabouts public, and allow human rights groups and the International Committee of Red Cross to have direct access to them.
 
Lastly, the report emphasizes that children and women should be released, and families and friends should not be taken as war hostages. The report calls on the official who was newly appointed in charge of the detainee file at the UN special envoy office to include the detainees issue in the upcoming rounds of Geneva talks, as this issue is of a greater importance to the Syrian people than other far-term issues that can be jointly addressed later, such as the constitution.
 

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