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
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
I would like to draw your attention to the latest issue of our publication, R2P Monitor.
R2P Monitor is a bimonthly bulletin applying the Responsibility to Protect lens to populations at risk of mass atrocities around the world. Issue 29 looks at developments in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Burma/Myanmar, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Burundi. To read R2P Monitor please access the document via the following link: R2P Monitor, Issue 29.
Issue 29 also includes an insert regarding states that have endorsed the Kigali Principles on the Protection of Civilians. For more information on the Kigali Principles, see: Peacekeeping and the Kigali Principles.
I hope you will find this edition a useful tool as we work together to prevent and halt mass atrocity crimes.
Duterte’s ‘War on Drugs’ Brings Dictatorship Methods Back to the PhilippinesIn less than two months since the inauguration of Rodrigo Duterte as president of the Philippines some 1,900 people have been killed at the hands of the police and death squads for suspected drug dealing or drug addiction. These unlawful murders echo the pattern of widespread and systematic extrajudicial killings that the country suffered under dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
In South Africa, Education as Redress Has Seen Mixed ResultsCan education help right the wrongs of the past, especially when the majority of the population was affected by those wrongs? Teboho Moja examines that question in the context of South Africa, where efforts to reform a discriminatory educational system and redress its consequences have been met with mixed results.
Colombia’s Chance to Fulfill its Historic Obligations to the DisappearedThousands have disappeared during Colombia’s 50-year armed conflict. As the government and FARC agree to a new peace deal, they have agreed to the creation of a special unit that will search for, locate and identify the disappeared. What do victims expect from this new body?
The Case for Action on Transitional Justice and DisplacementAs many European countries were beginning to emerge from the depths of the financial problems caused by the 2008 global crash, a new crisis emerged threatening to envelop the continent: the displacement of huge numbers of people fleeing humanitarian disasters in the Middle East and Africa and a slew of related political, financial, and security problems.
Education and Transitional Justice: Opportunities and Challenges for PeacebuildingThis report, part of a joint research project by ICTJ and UNICEF on the intersections of education, transitional justice, and peacebuilding, explores how a transitional justice framework can help to identify educational deficits relating to the logic of past conflict and/or repression and inform the reconstruction of the education sector.
Bogota, Colombia—The president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, acknowledged in a public statement on Thursday, the governments role in the assassination of leftist activists in the 1980s. The statement precedes the peace accord signing between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the government.
President Santos confirms the involvement of the Colombian government in the killings of thousands. (Picture Courtesy of The Wire)
After the peace agreements of the 1980s between the government and the FARC, the FARC formed the Patriotic Union (UP) political party. The political party was very successful in the 1986 election. Right-wing paramilitary groups, with government backing, assassinated thousands of its members and leaders, including the president of the UP, Jaime Pardo. An estimated 5,000 people were killed. A moment in history the FARC continues pin point during the new peace accord.
President Santos stated, “the tragedy should never have happened, and we must recognize that the government didn’t take sufficient measures to impede and prevent the assassinations, attacks, and other violations even though there was evidence the persecution was taking place.” He spoke in front of 200 survivors and family members of the UP—some wore shirts saying “They can cut the flowers, but they can’t stop the birth of spring.”
Santos continued by stating, “I make the solemn commitment before you today to take all the necessary measures and to give all the guarantees to make sure that never again in Colombia will a political organization have to face what the UP suffered.” President Santos has promised the safety and the protection of the FARC through the process.
Similarly, the FARC on Monday released a statement apologizing for the various kidnappings they committed in order to sustain themselves as a group. The FARC kidnapped thousands for ransom, including members of the elite.
The conflict in Colombia will soon come to end after the peace accords are signed on the 26th of September. The people of Colombia will vote on October 2, deciding whether to accept the peace accords.
