Friday, February 21, 2020: The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Humanitarian Outcomes on contributing to its Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD) project, with the MoU stipulating the building of a joint coordination and cooperation mechanism aimed at documenting and archiving violations and violence affecting aid workers. This will effectively assist in the study, analysis and description of aid work in Syria, providing comparisons with the rest of the world based on the AWSD’s findings.
The AWSD, which became publicly available online in 2009, is the most comprehensive global database of the major incidents of violence recorded against aid workers since 1997 to date. It is accredited by the United Nations, the Red Cross and Red Crescent, and numerous humanitarian NGOs around the world. The AWSD records the number of aid workers affected, the institutional affiliation of victims, type of staff (national or international), the methods and means of violence used, the date and specific location of each incident, and many other details, with the aim of assessing the impact of attacks on humanitarian support. For more details, please see the link.
The SNHR has been carrying out continuous monitoring and documentation of the violations which aid workers in Syria have been subjected to for several years, summarizing its documented incidents of violations against them both in regular updates and monthly reports, as well as in extensive dedicated reports on specific issues in this context, and finally within daily news bulletins. During this time, we have built up a detailed database that includes details of aid worker victims, the targeting and bombing of aid centers and aid convoys, and the arrests and enforced disappearances these personnel are subjected to.
