The Issue In Depth
Everything you need to know
The Syrian uprising has rapidly evolved from peaceful protests against the Assad government in 2011 to a violent conflict, killing, injuring and displacing millions of people.
Civilians continue to pay the highest price and to date, victims have seen no justice. Syrian government forces, with the support of Russia, have:
- attacked and bombed civilians, killing and injuring thousands
- maintained lengthy sieges on civilian areas, depriving civilians of food and other basic necessities
- subjected tens of thousands to enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions,
- systematically tortured and otherwise ill-treated detainees causing countless deaths in custody.
Read Amnesty’s report: ‘Human slaughterhouse: Mass hangings and extermination at Saydnaya prison, Syria’
Furthermore, non-state armed groups continue to:
- shell and conduct bombings in civilian areas
- kidnap, detain and kill foreign journalists, aid workers, army and pro-government forces and local activists
- restrict access for aid workers and local partners who are trying to help some of the nation’s most-affected
- intentionally prevent civilians from fleeing conflict ridden areas, and in many reported cases, use them as human shields.
Forced to flee
More than 5 million refugees who have had to leave Syria are in just five countries: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.
- Turkey hosts 2.9 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country worldwide.
- Lebanon hosts approximately 2.2 million Syrian refugees, which amounts to around one in five people in the country – 70 per cent are living below the poverty line.
- Jordan hosts approximately 657,675 Syrian refugees, which amounts to about 10 percent of the population – 93 per cent of Syrian refugees in urban areas in Jordan are living below the poverty line.
- In Iraq, where 3.1 million people are already internally displaced, 228,894 Syrian refugees are hosted – 37 per cent living below the poverty line.
- Egypt hosts 117,702 Syrian refugees – 65 per cent are living below the poverty line.
The UN’s 2016 humanitarian appeal for Syrian refugees was just 56 percent funded by the end of November 2016.
A glimmer of hope?
A glimmer of hope for accountability emerged when the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution establishing an investigative mechanism in Syria.
The mechanism aims to bring to justice all those suspected of committing human rights violations or crimes under international law. This is an opportunity to send a clear message to all perpetrators in Syria that they will be held accountable. It is time to ensure that the cycle of war crimes, crimes against humanity and impunity ends now.
Justice and accountability are essential to any future sustainable peace in Syria. The path to justice can be long, but we must act now to ensure that the UN takes all the steps necessary towards an effective international mechanism for Syria.
For the United Nations and humanitarian groups engaged in the crisis, urgent lifesaving aid must be delivered for up to one million people who continue to live under siege throughout the country.
There remains a need for sustained international pressure to ensure justice. There also needs to be accountability mechanisms to address war crimes and human rights violations that have occurred since the uprising began in March 2011.
Medical workers and facilities have come under sustained attacks by all involved parties, and have been deliberately targeted. As a consequence, there has been a severe weakening of health-care and the sanitation infrastructure, which have had devastating consequences for civilians and newborns.
Civilians continue to be disappeared, taken hostage, tortured and subjected to sexual violence, often in the context of detention. Unlawful killings, including deaths in detention and summary executions, remain a hallmark of the crisis in Syria with Amnesty International reporting over 17,000 deaths in prisons since the beginning of the conflict.
Without a return to the peace process, the Syrian crisis and the human rights violations that underpin it will continue. Amnesty continues to call for adherence to human rights and international humanitarian law and for accountability and an end to impunity all for human rights violations.
Syrian communities and organisations in Europe and elsewhere play an important role in providing testimonies and identifying suspects, thus increasing the opportunity for states to investigate and prosecute war crimes in their national courts.
Countries that can exercise this form of jurisdiction include: Argentina, France, UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, South Korea, Mexico, Switzerland, Sweden, Senegal and Uruguay.
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