7 Days For Syria: 

The wave of Arab unrest that began with the Tunisian revolution reached Syria on March 15, 2011, when residents of a small southern city took to the streets to protest the torture of students who had put up anti-government graffiti. The government responded with heavy-handed force, and demonstrations quickly spread across much of the country. As we reach the five year anniversary of the start of the uprising, it is still not too late to push our leaders to take action to help end the conflict, to assist the millions of those displaced from their homes—and to remind the Syrian people that they are not alone.

With that in mind, starting March 15th, I am Syria will be providing “Seven Days for Syria”—a set of small but significant things you can do to help, all easy to do and only a couple of clicks away. With more than 4.7 million Syrian’s in refugee camps, I Am Syria will be focusing this years 7 Days for Syria Campaign to help those displaced by the Syrian Civil War. 

Day 1: I AM SYRIA Seven Days for Syria Day One: Play and Share the I Am Syria Video  with your Facebook and Social Media Networks. Doing so might hopefully engage others in the cause, encouraging them to do the same with their networks as well.

Day 2:  If you are looking for a way to help Syrian refugees being resettled in your area, contact you local resettlement agency to donate or volunteer. There is no way for a citizen to host a Syrian Refugee family in your own home, but there are many ways you can help a local resettled family. Find a location near you here

Day 3: Call your local governor or congressmen and tell them to share support for the resettlement of refugees in your district. Find your local congressmen here. Find your governor here.  “I am a constituent from [City] and I support the resettlement of Syrian Refugees. I urge you to support refugees displaced by the Syrian Conflict. I am opposed to any legislation that would stop or halt the resettlement of Syrian families. Please represent me and your constituents who want to welcome Syrian families into the United States”  Day 5: Tweet to your favorite celebrity and tell them to speak out for the Syrian Refugees with this sample tweet. “Use your power and influence to help the families displaced by the Syrian conflict and desperately need a new home @I_am_Syria”

Day 4: Make a $20.00 donation to the International Recue Committee’s (IRC’s) Fund for Syrian Refugee Relief. The International Rescue Committee is marshaling a humanitarian response to help the thousands of people crossing Syria’s borders every day, as well as those trapped by the violence inside the country. We provide medical and other critical aid, help women and girls and ensure that all displaced Syrians have access to their legal rights. Day 6: Know a teacher who might be interested in making a difference?  Tell them about Teach Syria, a 40 minute Common Core-friendly lesson that provides the background knowledge and materials to engage their students in the Syrian refugee issue—and empowers them to take action.

Day 7:

We will end our campaign, we want to educate everyone on the Syrian Refugee crisis from those who work with refugee’s in one capacity or another. In addition to over 150 killed with scores injured, the attacks on Paris by ISIS were unfortunate in many ways. One outcome was the backlash against Syrian families being resettled in the United States by some officials in government. Syrian and other refugees should not be feared or demonized. After all, we are dealing here with hundreds of thousands of refugees as opposed to possibly a couple of dozen terrorist infiltrators. 

I Am Syria recently prepared a series of articles to help educate our viewers on what it is to be a Syrian Refugee and what conditions are like for those fleeing Syria. Our friends around the world helped contribute to our series by providing us their point of view and what they have experienced. Read a share our articles on social media and help spread our message to help Syrian families desperate and displaced by the Syrian conflict. 

Dear Readers, Welcome to the weekly Syria Deeply newsletter. We’ve rounded up the most important stories and developments about Syria and the Syrians in order to bring you valuable news and analysis. Without Maps or Monitoring, Cease-fire Risks Ruin Four days into the temporary truce, the guns have largely fallen silent. But regime and Russian airstrikes against what they claim to be “terrorists” have continued. Syria Deeply spoke with Rami Khouri of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs on its chances of success. Amid Violations, Syrians Skeptical of Cease-fire The internationally brokered cease-fire had a rocky start. While the first 24 hours passed relatively quietly, Russian and Syrian government airstrikes picked up again on Sunday, with airplanes targeting towns and villages controlled by the Free Syrian Army across the country’s north. What about the Detainees? Q&A with Wissam Tarif With opposition groups threatening to boycott the rescheduled Geneva talks, and human rights groups hoping the cessation of hostilities will put pressure on the Syrian government to release prisoners early, the notorious detention centers remain inaccessible for inspection. More Recent Stories to Look Out for at Syria Deeply: • Aleppo’s Healthcare System Struggles to Survive: Q&A • Kurdish Expansion is Changing Ankara’s Priorities • My Life Outside Syria: Diary Entry 60 Find our new reporting and analysis every weekday at www.syriadeeply.org. You can reach our team with any comments or suggestions at info@newsdeeply.org.

The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) recently released a report on the systematic abuses and deaths of detainees in Syria. The report used 621 interviews and considerable documentary material to expose a staggering number of international law violations regarding the treatment of detainees by all parties to the Syrian conflict. The Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC) summarized the report’s findings into the following four conclusions:

1. All parties to the conflict have committed violations against detainees, but the Syrian government’s violations are more systematic and on a larger scale than other groups. 

Although the Syrian government has consistently denied the HRC and other international human rights monitoring organizations unfettered access to its territory, eyewitness accounts and documentary evidence strongly suggest that tens of thousands of people are detained by the government at any one time. The HRC report notes that, since March 2011, a countrywide pattern emerged in which civilians, mainly males above the age of 15, were arbitrarily arrested and detained by the government. According to former detainees, prisoners in State run detention facilities are often subject to beatings, torture, and inhumane living conditions, regularly being denied access to clean food, water, or medical attention. Over 200 of the 621 former detainees interviewed for this report witnessed one or more deaths in custody as a result of ill treatment.

The report also found that anti-government groups, Jabhat al-Nusra, and ISIS have subjected detainees to serious abuses, including torture and summary executions. However, the number of detainees held by these groups is believed to be much lower than the number held by the Syrian government. Additionally, unlike the Syrian government, the report found no institutionalized or consistent practice of mass arrests and arbitrary detention, torture, and killing of detained civilians by anti-government groups. Less documentation is available for Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS; nevertheless, in a recent article, SJAC argued that ISIS has brutal detention practices which seem to have developed into standardized procedures.  

2. Syrian state institutions have failed to respect their obligations under international and national law.

Customary international law, which applies to all nations, prohibits enforced disappearance, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, murder, torture, rape, and the conviction or sentencing of a person without a fair trial. Summary and extrajudicial executions or killings are also prohibited, regardless of detainees’ status or alleged offenses. According to the HRC report:

“Through its widespread conduct of mass arrests, arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance, victimising the general civilian population living in restive areas and persons otherwise perceived to be in opposition to the Government, and the ensuing ill treatment and killing of those detained, Government forces have engaged in the multiple commissions of crimes, amounting to a systematic and widespread attack against a civilian population.”

The Syrian government’s treatment of detainees is also in violation of the Syrian Constitution, which prohibits torture, provides due process guarantees, and outlaws arbitrary detention. State institutions have repeatedly failed to investigate violations of human rights in State run detention facilities. By the same token, Syria’s criminal justice system has systematically failed to uphold human rights standards — the consistent denial of habeas corpus to the issuance of death penalties without due process to the overly broad interpretation of criminal provisions to deny citizens their rights and freedoms.

3. Even though the violations are happening in secret, there are large numbers of victims.

Unlike barrel bombs and public beheadings that are filmed and posted online, deaths in custody occur in secrecy. Despite these abuses not being as visible as other types of violations, they have had a devastating impact on Syrian society, with many people losing loved ones and little to no information provided for closure regarding their fate. For the most part, the government has failed to provide cause of death, documentation, access to remains, or information to victims’ next of kin. In cases where relatives of the deceased are provided a death certificate, the cause of death is commonly listed as “heart attack.” Due to the secrecy around many of these deaths, there has been little to no international or political discourse on the issue.

4. There is a need for international action and accountability.

The UN Security Council issued Resolution 2191 in 2014 which demanded an end to all practices of executions, extrajudicial killings, torture, enforced disappearance, and other violations of international law by all parties involved in the Syria conflict. To date, no party has taken sufficient measures to respect or implement this resolution. Moreover, the Syrian government has consistently denied international organizations and commissions unrestricted access to its territory. Immediate access to all detention facilities is needed so international observers can monitor and record human rights violations. SJAC recently helped draft a statement that advocates for this and other transitional justice mechanisms in Syria.

The HRC report also emphasizes that “Accountability for these and other crimes must form part of any political solution.” Accountability requires high quality documentation that can corroborate information that the UN has already collected. It can also add to the number of former detainees interviewed. In addition to assigning culpability, proper documentation can be used to acknowledge and provide redress to individuals who were arbitrarily detained and tortured.

Through its documentation efforts in Syria and neighboring countries, SJAC is committed to interviewing victims of torture and former detainees according to the Do No Harm principle, but the large number of cases of abuse requires the efforts of many individuals and groups working together to expose these atrocities. SJAC will continue to help provide human rights defenders with resources and advice on documentation best practices to ensure that human rights violations are comprehensively documented and preserved so that they may be used in transitional justice and peace building efforts.

For more information and to provide feedback, please email SJAC at info@syriaaccountability.org.

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