Syria Watch

Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: Justice for the Victims of Da’esh’s Atrocities

Joint Civil Society Statement

JUSTICE FOR THE VICTIMS OF DA’ESH’S ATROCITIES

19 September 2016

Two years ago Da’esh swept across northern Iraq and conducted a widespread and systematic campaign of mass atrocities against minority communities. Across the Nineveh Plain, Da’esh captured thousands of members of the Yazidi community and set about the summary killing of hundreds of Yazidi men. Women and girls were subjected to sexual slavery and human trafficking. Boys were separated from their families, forced to convert to Islam and sent to military training camps. Since then, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry for Syria has concluded that Da’esh’s crimes amount to genocide against the Yazidis and other minority communities.

Da’esh is still systematically carrying out a program of atrocities against religious minorities in areas under its control. An estimated 3,800 Yazidi women and children still remain captive, and recent reports suggest that up to 15,000 victims of Da’esh’s crimes may be buried in more than 70 suspected mass graves across territory previously occupied by Da’esh in Iraq and Syria. More than three million Iraqis still remain internally displaced in Iraq, and many others have become refugees.

Wherever Da’esh exports terrorism, it also exports war crimes and crimes against humanity, including to Libya and Nigeria. Da’esh’s victims in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere need to know that those committing atrocity crimes will be held criminally responsible. International justice is contagious, and accountability is one of the most effective tools for protecting human rights and preventing the recurrence of atrocities.

States have a responsibility to protect all communities from mass atrocity crimes within their borders, and the international community has an obligation to ensure that responsibility is upheld. We call upon the government of Iraq and the international community to investigate and prosecute Da’esh fighters who have perpetrated atrocity crimes and to hold to account all parties committing violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Iraq and Syria. In doing so, we also recognize that fighting terrorism and countering violent extremism should never be used as an excuse for repudiating human rights, or ignoring international law.

Finally, the UN Security Council should assist in providing justice for the victims of Da’esh’s mass atrocity crimes by working with Iraq and other states to establish a relevant mechanism of international justice.

Signed:
Amnesty International
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Yazda

Syria Deeply Weekly Update: Cease-fires and Sectarianism in Syria

The most important updates on the war in Syria.
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WEEKLY UPDATE
September 17, 2016
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. But first, here is a brief overview of what happened this week:The cease-fire brokered by the United States and Russia came into effect, just as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) announced a higher death toll for the six-year-long Syrian conflict. The U.K.-based observatory has documented the deaths of 301,781 civilians and fighters, but placed the actual death toll at approximately 430,000 since 2011.Under the terms of the cease-fire agreement, all parties involved in the conflict must cease hostilities and access must be granted for humanitarian aid deliveries. If successful, the current agreement would lead to increased military cooperation in Syria between the U.S. and Russia.Fighting declined significantly since the start of the truce but did not completely stop. On Thursday at least 23 civilians, including nine children and two women, were reported to have been killed in airstrikes on the largely ISIS-controlled city of al-Mayadin in Deir Ezzor province. An additional 30 people were injured in the airstrikes, at least one of which reportedly hit a shelter for displaced families, according to the SOHR.The cease-fire did not include the so-called Islamic State and the former al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, so Thursday’s airstrikes did not constitute a violation of the deal.Moscow is using its influence to ensure the Syrian government upholds the cease-fire, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Friday. He added that Russia expects the U.S. to use its own sway with rebel groups to maintain the cessation of hostilities.Five days into the cease-fire, however, humanitarian aid has yet to enter Syria. Jens Laerke, spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the U.N. is “waiting for assurances that conditions are safe enough” for the aid convoys to cross the border from Turkey. The humanitarian agency is also awaiting proper entry permits from the Syrian government. Some 40 trucks in two separate humanitarian convoys are waiting to enter Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, with enough supplies to feed some 80,000 people for one month.

All eyes will be on these aid convoys in the coming days at the United Nations General Assembly session in New York, including a summit on refugees and migrants on Monday. A top priority at the meeting of international leaders will be Syria, specifically the role of the U.N. role in getting much-needed aid into the country’s hard-to-reach and besieged areas.“Major countries with influence have a duty to use their influence and seize this latest opportunity to pursue a political solution to end this catastrophic conflict,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

Weekly Highlights:

Long Read: Game of Shrines and the Road to Darayya

As the Syrian government and its allied militias evacuate mostly Sunni populations from rebel-held areas, sectarian narratives are filling the vacuum.
In this photo released on the official Facebook page of the Syrian Presidency, Syrian President Bashar Assad, prays the dawn Eid al-Adha prayers at the Saad ibn Muaaz Mosque in Daraya, a blockaded Damascus suburb, Syria, Monday, Sept. 12, 2016. Syrian Presidency via Facebook

Syrian Refugees Save to Make Hajj Pilgrimage

Thanks to growing employment opportunities, more Syrian refugee families in Jordan have been able to save enough money to make the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca this year.
Ahmed Albaker, a Syrian refugee living in Jordan’s Zaatari camp, opens his Quran to quote a passage. Lora Moftah

Experts Weigh In on U.S.-Russia Agreement for Syria

Atlantic Council experts Frederic C. Hof and Faysal Itani discuss the potential outcomes of the cease-fire deal negotiated between the U.S. and Russia, highlighting that the plan’s success hinges on removing civilians from danger.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov walk in to their meeting room in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday, September 9, to discuss the crisis in Syria. Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photos via AP

Additional Reading:

For new reporting and analysis every weekday, visit www.newsdeeply.com/syria.
You can reach our team with any comments or suggestions at info@newsdeeply.org.

Top image: Civilians leaving the town of Suran, in Hama province, Syria, Thursday Sept. 1, 2016, after suspected government warplanes carried out several airstrikes in the area. Syria Press Center via AP
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Syrian Network for Human Rights: No less than 59 Medical Centers have been Targeted by Russian Forces since its Intervention in Syria
Introduction and Methodology
Since the Russian attacks began in Syria, SNHR has issued 16 different reports on incidents that involved bombing civil targets in opposition-held and ISIS-held areas. These attacks have caused casualties, destruction, and displacement that constitute war crimes.
We focused in some of the previous reports on major massacres in particular, and we will devote the 17th report to document the targeting of medical centers. This report is an update on a previous report that documents the targeting of medical centers particularly by Russian forces. The first report “The Grozny Holocaust in Aleppo”, published on 19 February 2016, documents the bombing of 27 medical centers.
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Syria Deeply Weekly Update: Aleppo Under Fire Again, Opposition’s New Peace Plan

The most important updates on the war in Syria.
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WEEKLY UPDATE
September 10, 2016
Dear Readers,Welcome to the weekly Syria Deeply newsletter. We’ve rounded up the most important stories and developments concerning Syria and the Syrians in order to bring you valuable news and analysis. But first, here is an overview of what happened this week:At least 47 people were killed when six bombs exploded in four Syrian provinces between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. local time on Monday. The deadliest of the attacks was a double bombing in the government-held coastal province of Tartous in which at least 35 people died. Bombs also went off in the Kurd-held province of Hasaka and government-controlled areas of Homs and Damascus.The battle in northern Syria continues with Turkish and Syrian government forces both making gains. Over the weekend, Turkish troops and their allied opposition forces pushed ISIS militants out of the Syrian border area with Turkey. On Wednesday, Turkish shelling killed six Kurdish security forces in Afrin, a northwestern city controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).Forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad retook parts of Aleppo early in the week, effectively putting the eastern part of the city under siege. On Tuesday night, at least 120 people, including 10 women and 37 children, were hurt in a suspected chlorine gas attack in the al-Sukkari district of opposition-held eastern Aleppo. Two days later, shelling from Islamist groups in the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud district killed the last remaining pediatrician in the area.A group of doctors in Aleppo also urged the international community to respond to a crisis in the south of the city. They say the only hospital in the area, which serves roughly 125,000 people, will be relocated to another district by the end of the month.Pro-government forces are also in the midst of a major battle with opposition forces in Hama. At the end of August, several opposition factions launched the biggest offensive in the western central province since 2014. In the two weeks since fighting began, some 100,000 people have been displaced.On the diplomatic front, Russia and the U.S. failed to reach a cease-fire agreement this week, just as the Syrian opposition revealed its plan for political transition that would see President Assad and members of his government step down. The three-phase plan presented by the High Negotiations Committee includes a six-month negotiation and cease-fire, an interim government in power for roughly a year and a half, followed by the establishment of a new constitution and United Nations-supervised elections.Although no nationwide cease-fire has been agreed on the international stage, another local truce was negotiated in the Damascus suburbs this week following the earlier evacuation of Darayya city. Under the terms of the deal, fighters in Mouadamiya will be transferred to the rebel-held province of Idlib. Those who wish to remain must surrender their weapons by Monday.

Weekly Highlights:

The Long Road From Raqqa to Europe

After ISIS militants executed his 17-year-old son, Khalaf and his family fled their home in Raqqa, Syria for Europe. This is the story of their journey, which has yet to end, as border closings continue to tear the family apart.
Tamadur al-Muhawish and five of her daughters in Greece. The family fled Raqqa after al-Muhawish’s son was executed by the Islamic State. Al-Mu’tasim Khalaf

Analysis: How Evacuating al-Waer and ‘Other Darayyas’ Will Help Assad

The recent ultimatum directed at the besieged city of Darayya is just one example of a larger strategy of population displacement that the Assad government will use to regain control of opposition-held Syria.
Syrian soldiers are seen at the entrance of Darayya, a blockaded Damascus suburb, on August 26, 2016. AP Photo

Inside the Turkish Camps Where Syrian Refugees Work for $8 a Day

Thousands of Syrian refugees are now employed as migrant farm workers across Turkey, and they are particularly vulnerable to exploitation – especially as the government has effectively sanctioned their use as cheap labor.
Children play inside a concrete warehouse outside Torbali, Turkey, where hundreds of refugees working as migrant laborers sleep. Danielle Villasana

Additional Reading:

Find our new reporting and analysis every weekday at www.newsdeeply.com/syria.

You can reach our team with any comments or suggestions at info@newsdeeply.org.

Top image: Residents of the Damascus suburb of Darayya leave the Mouadamiya area on Thursday, Sept. 8. The second phase of an agreement reached by the Syrian government for people to leave Mouadamiya was implemented Thursday, with nearly 150 people heading to a nearby suburb. AP Photo
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