Human Rights Activists were shocked about the news regarding the kidnapping of Lawyer and Human Rights Activist Razan Zaitouneh, and three of her colleagues working in the same field.  Their names are: Human Rights Activist Samira Alkhalil, Mr. Wael Hamada; he is Razan’s husband, and Lawyer Nazem Al-Hamidi.  A masked and armed group kidnapped them from the Office of Violations Documentations Centre in the city of Doma, where our colleagues were working (the armed group are unknown at the moment of issuing this statement).

As known, kidnapping in general is prohibited in International Humanitarian Law and Customary International Human Rights Law; which is a binding law, so it is considered a war crime  Their perpetrators must be pursued and held accountable.

In the case of Human Rights Defenders, this is a more egregious violation regarding their value and special care.

Syrian Network for Human Rights expresses strong condemnation over the inhuman terrorist act of kidnapping, and stand by the abducted colleagues in their Rights Journey.

The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and the Supreme Military Council should take their responsibilities in this regard, where the kidnapping incident has occurred in an area outside the regime’s control.

They should start a quick investigation, and follow up the case to the highest levels.  First: to do everything possible to release them.  Second:  hold perpetrators accountable to deter them, because it forms additional risk if we add it to the violations committed by the Syrian regime against human rights defenders, and these seriously threaten the documentation process in Syria.

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Period covered:  November 2013
Subject: death toll of civilians and armed rebels in November 2013
Prepared by Syrian Network for Human Rights

Syrian Network for Human Rights is independent of any government and political ideology.  We have more than 100 members, distributed in all Syrian provinces and neighboring countries.

SNHR documents human rights violations and victims killed during the Syria Revolution.

2,583 Syrian citizens were killed; including 663 armed rebels and 1,920 civilians.  Among the civilians, there are 227 children, 194 women, and 123 tortured to death including 2 media activists and 1 child.

In November: the civilian causalities exceeded 100,000 victims, including more than 12,000 children and 11,000 women.

The daily average of killings this month was 92 people a day, 4 people an hour.

The rate of children killed was so high this month: 277 child-victims with an average of 9 children a day, and the proportion of the children killed relative to the death toll is 14%, which is a very high rate and strict evidence that the Government Forces are targeting the civilians.

194 female victims killed at an average of 6 women a day, and the proportion of the women killed to the death toll is 8%, which is a very high rate and strict evidence that the Government Forces are targeting the civilians.

123 victims tortured to death at an average of 7 victims a day tortured to death in formal and informal detention centers.

The proportion of women killed, children, and victims tortured to death is 28%.  This clearly shows the invalidity of the Syrian government’s claims that it is fighting al-Qaeda, extremists and terrorists.  These figures clearly show that they are killing the Syrian people.

SNHR would like to indicate that what we could document by our deployed members in all of the Syrian provinces are classified by names date and place, photo or video.

We couldn’t document many cases of massacres and killing for many reasons, including procedures repeatedly and systematically used by the Syrian Government’s Armed Forces, like communications disconnection and blockading areas for many days. Such acts make the actual number higher than the one provided.  Not to mention that the Syrian government has prevented any of the human rights organizations from performing their duty in its territory.

It should be mentioned that work mechanism of Syrian Network for Human Rights’ Group is based on precise verification and documentation methods, and on our members deployed in the Syrian territory to gather facts and take written testimonies, live images and videos, oral and registered interviews audio, and video interviews so as to complement the efforts exerted to document human rights violations under the restrictions imposed by the Syrian government on the network members or any other Human Rights organization to work on Syrian territory.  The real number may exceed the one provided by dozens, especially in the case of massacres where they imposed blockage and cut communications.

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Legal conclusions

1-     SNHR is assured that the Syrian Government’s Armed Groups and Shabiha violated Previsions of Human Rights International Law which protect the right of life, in addition to dozens of cases considered as a war crimes (murder cases).

Undoubted Evidence of hundreds of eyewitness stories reveal that more than 90% of expanded and individual attacks were directed against civilians, and that’s all contrary to the Syrian Government’s claims that they are fighting Al-Qaeda and terrorists.

2-     SNHR also indicates that the documented events are also crimes against humanity, where the condition of widespread and systematically directed attacks against civilian population groups in most cases of murder was achieved.

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Condemnation and Responsibilities:

Responsibility of states for internationally wrongful acts, similarly, Customary IHL provides that the state is responsible for all acts committed by a member of its military and security forces.  Thus, the state is responsible for wrongful acts committed by its military and security forces, including crimes against humanity.

SNHR holds the Syrian President Commander in Chief of the Syrian army, Bashar al-Assad, responsible for all acts of homicide, torture and massacres perpetrated in Syria as he holds the primary responsibility for giving the orders for these acts.  SNHR considers all Syrian regime members and heads of the security and military bodies directly complicit in those acts.  By the same token, SNHR considers the Iranian government and Hezbullah as direct partners in the acts of homicide who shall legally and judicially be held liable for those acts along with all those funding and supporting the Syrian regime which is systematically committing massacres on a daily basis.  SNHR holds all the above mentioned parties responsible for all consequences and potential reactions from the Syrian people in general and the families of the victims in particular.

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Recommendations:

Human right council

1-    Call upon the Security Council and relevant organizations to take upon their responsibility towards what’s happening to the Syrian children who are and have been affected from the constant killings.

2-    Exert pressure on the Syrian government to stop the random and deliberate shelling of civilians.

3-    Hold the allies and supporters of the Syrian government: Russia, Iran, and China, morally and physically responsible for the killings in Syria.

4-    Serious attention of the disastrous situation and give it a high priority, and try to take care of victims’ children and families.

Security Council:

1-    Decision to refer all the criminals and the involved to the ICC.

2-    Warn and send a clear message to the Syrian Government about the repercussions of using brutal methods and systematic killing.

Arab League:

1-    Demand the Human Rights Council and United Nations to give this serious issue the right attention and follow up.

2-    Political and diplomatic pressure on the Syrian Government Troops’  main allies-Russia, Iran, and China -to prevent them from continuously providing cover and international and political protection for all the crimes committed against the Syrian people, and hold them morally and physically responsible for all the excesses of the Syrian Government Troops.

Urgent appeal for the release of prisoners of conscience and all detainees in Syria. The undersigned organizations expresses their utmost concerns for the fate of tens of thousands of detainees in Syria, and urges all parties to guarantee in all circumstances their physical and psychological integrity and release those arbitrarily detained.
For more than 2 years and a half, the Syrian government has been carrying out large scale campaigns of arbitrary arrests and has jailed tens of thousands of civilians including peaceful protestors, civil society and political activists, aid workers and journalists, physicians and lawyers without sparing women, children, and people with disabilities and serious medical conditions. Corroborative reports issued by Syrian human groups indicate that thousands of detainees died inside governmental detention centers where detention conditions fall short of minimum human rights and humanitarian standards.

The whole criminal procedure fails to comply not only with international standards, but also with the Syrian Constitution and domestic regulations. Detainees in governmental detention facilities face on a daily basis the most severe human rights violations including the widespread and systematic use of torture during pre-trial and post-trial periods, widespread policy of starvation and deliberate neglect of health of some detainees leading in many cases to their death.

Detainees in State security detention centers, military prisons and central prisons remain held “incommunicado” for months, and often for years, in violation of domestic provisions. Thousands are detained in inhumane conditions in underground secret branches and civilians are routinely detained in military detention facilities. At this date, dozens of thousands are subjected to enforced disappearance. Civilians, including peaceful activists are systematically presented before jurisdictions that fail to comply with the most basic guarantees for the respect of principles of fair trial, including military field courts and anti- terrorism courts.

Our organizations are also extremely concerned by the fate of hundreds of persons detained by armed groups, notably extremist Islamic groups, which are increasingly gaining power in areas outside the control of the Syrian government. Some of these groups forcefully impose a new social system in regions under their control, preventing the civilian population from practicing their basic rights. Hundreds of cases of kidnapping of those opposing their authority including by peaceful means have been reported, along with other serious human rights abuses. Local “Shariaa” courts that do not meet any basic guarantee of fair trial have also been established.

The undersigned organizations remind that the Syrian government is bound by the international human rights principles, even in time of war, and that all parties in an armed conflict are compelled to abide by International Humanitarian Law principles. All parties responsible of and involved in international crimes must be held accountable and prosecuted by independent and impartial competent jurisdiction that fully comply with international standards, either at domestic or international level.

The Syrian government should not use the expansive powers of the country’s Anti-Terrorism Law or any other law to target human rights defenders, journalists, humanitarian workers and other peaceful activists. The Syrian government should also guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders in Syria are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.

Our organizations hold the Syrian authorities and all parties involved in the conflict responsible for the physical and psychological integrity of the persons they detain. They must immediately take steps to release all persons illegally detained and grant access to independent monitoring mechanisms and in particular the International Committee of the Red Cross to all detention centers in the country. Courts that do not present any guarantees to protect the right of the accused detainees should be abolished without delay whether field courts, anti-terrorism courts or Sharia courts.

At a time of renewed attempts for a political compromise that would end violence in Syria, the undersigned organizations urge all parties involved directly and indirectly in the conflict to grant absolute priority to the release of all persons arbitrarily detained.

Signatories

Alkarama Foundation
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN)
Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
HIVOS
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR)

Palestinian Human Rights Organization (PHRO)
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)

Al Kawakibi Organization for Human Rights
Arab Organization for Human Rights in Syria
Assyrian Human Rights Network (AHRN)
Center for Civil Society and Democracy in Syria
Citizenship Movement
Coalition of Syrian Women for Democracy
Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies (DCHRS)
Equal Citizenship Center
Equality Organization
Etana Press
Fardous League
Kurdish Organization for Human Rights in Syria (MAF)
Kurdish Committee for Human Rights (RASED)
Kurdish Organization for Public Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria (DAD)
Lawyers for Democracy
Legal Center for Documentation of Violations Al Raqeeb
National Organization for Human Rights in Syria
Syrian Center for Human Rights (SCHR)
Syrian Center for Legal Studies and research
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)
Syrian Democratic Institute
Syrian Human rights Committee
Syrian Human Rights League (SHRL)
Syrian Journalists Association
Syrian League for Citizenship
Syrian Organization for Human Rights – Sawasyah
Syrian Women Network Shams
Syrian Women League
Syrian Women Organization for State of Citizenship
Syrian Women Platform for Peace
Tawasol Movement
The Day After
Violations Documentation Center in Syria (VDC)

This statement is open for signatures by Human Rights Organizations willing to support the campaign for all detainees in Syria. In order to contribute, please contactfreedetaineescampaignsyria@gmail.com