Human Rights in Syria

March 20th, 2013 - Syrians search for bodies on the rubble of damaged buildings that were hit by Syrian Air Force strikes

            The issue of human rights is one that is very important to many people. In many developed countries, there are organizations whose sole objectives are to promote human rights among their citizens. They pressure government to adopt or expand rights to minority groups through protests and demonstrations, much like we’ve seen in the United States with the women’s suffrage movement at the turn of the 20^th century, the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, or the LGBTQ movement of the modern era. However, relative to some places in the world, these countries are far advanced in the realm of human rights. In a country like Syria, where Emergency Law was in place from 1963 to 2011, essentially allowing the government to arrest and detain citizens without charge and suspending most constitutional protections for citizens, including banning public assembly of more than 5 persons, the issue of human rights is an entirely different conversation. For the citizens of Syria, they are still fighting for the most basic of human rights, including the right to life.

            Since the Syrian Civil War began in 2011, many violations of human rights have been reported by organizations such as Human Rights Watch, an NGO that publishes yearly reports on the state of human rights across the globe. Although most violations have been committed by the Syrian government, there is evidence of abuses by opposition and rebel forces as well. These human rights violations include the use of internationally banned weapons by the Syrian government, such as cluster bombs, barrel bombs, and chemical agents, which are commonly targeted to civilian inhabited areas or cities, the torture and subsequent killing of thousands of detainees by the Syrian regime, and the use of child soldiers by rebel groups. The most lethal of these offenses is probably the August 2013 chemical weapons attack in the Ghouta area, near Damascus, where, according to the United Nations, evidence was found of several surface to surface missiles containing sarin being used in rebel-held Damascus suburbs, killing hundreds, with some estimates over 1,700 men, women,and children.  Although neither side has been proven to have committed the act, the UN’s 7th Report of Commission of Inquiry on Syria claims “the nature, quality and quantity of the agents …. indicated that the perpetrators likely had access to the chemical weapons stockpile of the Syrian military, as well as the expertise and equipment necessary to manipulate safely large amount of chemical agents”. Many countries, including the US believe the attack was carried out by the Al-Assad regime, though Russia argues the attack may have been carried out by opposition forces hoping to garner intervention by countries like the US against the Syrian regime. Several countries, including the US, debated military intervention after the Ghouta attacks, but it was averted after Bashar Al-Assad’s regime agreed to a deal that would end Syrian chemical weapon production and turn over all existing chemical weapons to foreign control for destruction, as well as their intent to join the Chemical Weapons Convention.

A Syrian helicopter carrying two barrel bombs.

            The human rights violations didn’t end with the agreement to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons though. There have been reports of both sides blocking humanitarian convoys from reaching refugee camps, even leading the UN to remove one particular camp from its list of besieged areas, likely because it was unable to reach the camp for several months prior. In addition, the use of weapons such as barrel bombs in populated areas continues, with reports of their use as recent as October 9^th, 2015, when it is believed as many as 16 bombs were dropped in Western Ghouta in the course ofone day. With the civil war raging on in its fourth year, these offenses don’t seem to be diminishing, and there doesn’t appear to be a foreseeable end in sight for the conflict. To keep up on the events in Syria, visit the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.