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Civicus, a global civil society alliance, recently released its 13th report on the state of civil society worldwide, containing over 250 interviews and articles published by the global alliance from over 100 countries and territories. The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), represented by its Executive Director Fadel Abdulghany, contributed to the report’s assessment of Syria.
Mr. Abdulghany highlighted SNHR’s continued work on documenting violations committed by all parties to the conflict and controlling forces in Syria, revealing that 230,465 civilian deaths have been documented between March 2011 and June 2023, with Syrian regime forces and Iranian militias being responsible for over 87 percent of the total, while Russian forces and ISIS were responsible for about three percent and two percent respectively. As SNHR’s database attests, the continuing gross and rampant violations in Syria means that no part of the country can be declared safe.
Mr. Abdulghany outlined the massive pressure facing human rights workers in Syria, which entails many grave risks, including arbitrary arrests and torture, adding that many Syrians are also unsafe in other countries. For instance, he noted, Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Türkiye face the threat of refoulment even though such practices would constitute violations of international law, particularly the 1951 Refugee Convention.
He noted that the Syrian civil society continues to call for respecting human rights, investigating human rights violations, and exposing their perpetrators on the basis of the principles of equality and promoting human rights. “We are working tirelessly to promote a culture of human rights in a country with one of the world’s worst human rights records, as well as rid ourselves of the decades-long dictatorship in Syria,” he added.
