Human Rights Council
Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Twenty-sixth session
31 October-11 November 2016
National report submitted in accordance with paragraph 5 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 16/21*
Syrian Arab Republic
* The present document has been reproduced as received. Its content does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations.
A Advance Version Distr.: General
28 September 2016 English
Original: Arabic
Contents
Page
Introduction ... 3
I. Methodology and report preparation process ... 4
II. Basic information about the Syrian Arab Republic ... 4
III. Normative and institutional framework for the promotion and protection of human rights ... 5
IV. Promotion and protection of human rights in practice ... 8
V. The current crisis and its impact on human rights ... 12
VI. Challenges and their impact on human rights ... 17
VII. Measures taken by the Syrian Government to contain the effects of the crisis and its ramifications (progress achieved) ... 20
Conclusion ... 28
Introduction
1. The Syrian Arab Republic reaffirms its constant observance of the provisions of the Charter and the principles of international law and international human rights instruments on the basis of its firm conviction that peace and security may be strengthened at the national and international levels by respecting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms. Nor should States pursue aggressive policies towards certain countries and intervene in their affairs or finance, harbour or arm terrorists or threaten to launch overt military aggression against an entire people on the pretext of strengthening and protecting human rights. The Syrian Arab Republic stresses its belief in and commitment to dialogue and cooperation for the strengthening of human rights in accordance with the principles and Charter of the United Nations and human rights instruments that have been adopted.
2. The Syrian Arab Republic reiterates that the chief cause of the current, worsening crisis is terrorism, which has received and continues to receive support from the Governments of Arab States and other countries of the region and the world, which have provided various armed terrorist groups, in particular Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as Daesh) and Jabhat al-Nusrah, with funding, ammunition, equipment, terrorists and mercenaries, both directly and indirectly, and with media support which misleads public opinion, in clear and flagrant violation of international law.
3. The armed terrorist groups, and those who support, finance, sponsor and arm them, continue to demolish all humanitarian and ethical values and the noble values that have characterized the Syrian Arab Republic. These terrorist groups commit the most abhorrent crimes against Syrian citizens, including murder, kidnapping, burning down and destroying schools and hospitals, sexual violence, recruiting child soldiers, preventing humanitarian assistance from reaching areas controlled by such groups, in addition to wanton destruction and sabotage, carrying out suicide attacks, plundering national resources, and draining the national economy.
4. The Syrian Arab Republic abides by its duty to protect its citizens at the same time as it continues to combat terrorism, a right guaranteed to it by international law and the Charter of the United Nations under the heading of self-defence and the defence of its people and territory from terrorist aggression. The Syrian Arab Army continues to secure successes in its war against externally supported terrorism, to recover numerous areas from the control of terrorist groups, and to restore security and stability to such areas, which should pave the way for the return of migrants and displaced persons to their native districts and homes.
5. The unilateral coercive measures imposed on the Syrian Arab Republic and its Government and people are one of the chief causes of the deteriorating humanitarian crisis, whose ramifications continue to deepen, and this has an adverse effect on the human rights of the Syrian people, particularly the right to development and a life of dignity.
6. The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, which continues to be guided by its international commitments, submits herewith its second national report under the Universal Periodic Review mechanism.
7. Through this report, the Syrian Arab Republic seeks to provide a general synopsis of the actual situation of human rights and protective mechanisms, and to shed light on the underlying reasons for the current crisis and the challenges arising therefrom. It hopes to demonstrate the efforts of the Syrian Government to meet those challenges and its view of the way forward. Concerning the recommendations made during the discussion of its first national report, the Syrian Government wishes to clarify that it has not been able to act upon those recommendations as it would have wished, owing to the worsening crisis, which
has continued until the time of writing of this report. It is nevertheless exerting all possible efforts to address human rights issues arising from the crisis. This does not mean that it will not respond seriously to these recommendations in due course.
I. Methodology and report preparation process
8. In accordance with the Universal Periodic Review mechanism, a plan of work was drawn up for the preparation of this report, which describes the extent to which international commitments and their practical applications have been observed; this helps to promote human rights, and transparency in work, by means of cooperation with all relevant authorities.
9. The plan of work included the following elements:
• Establishment of a national committee for the preparation of the report, pursuant to decision No. 2235 by the Prime Minister dated 26 July 2016.
• Definition of the Universal Periodic Review mechanism.
• The committee examined the data and information concerning human rights received from the various Syrian authorities, reviewed all reports submitted by the Syrian Arab Republic and the recommendations made by it.
• The committee engaged in an interactive dialogue with the various Government authorities and between those authorities and civil society entities with a view to giving all an opportunity to put forward their views and observations on everything contained in the report.
II. Basic information about the Syrian Arab Republic
Location
10. The Syrian Arab Republic is located on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and is bordered in the east by Iraq, in the south by Palestine and Jordan, in the west by Lebanon and the Mediterranean, and in the north by Turkey.
Area
11. The area of the Syrian Arab Republic is 185,180 km2. Since 5 June 1967, Israel has occupied an area of 1,260 km2, 60 km2 of which was liberated in the October 1973 war.
Administrative divisions
12. The territory of the Syrian Arab Republic consists of 14 governorates (muḥāfaẓah), each of which is divided into a number of districts (minṭaqah), subdistricts (nāḥiyah) and villages (qaryah).
The human element
13. The population of the Syrian Arab Republic was 25,920,222 in 2016, including refugees and migrants outside the country, according to the statistics of the personal status records in August 2016.
14. The crisis that the Syrian Arab Republic is undergoing has adversely affected the geographical stability of the population: some of the Syrian governorates have been affected by migration, which in turn has led to demographic imbalances. The number of internal migrants is estimated to be 5,184,551, 70 per cent of whom are living in safe areas.
15. The Israeli occupation of the occupied Syrian Arab Golan and the occupied Palestinian territory has resulted in a demographic imbalance arising from the migration of some 500,000 persons from the occupied Syrian Golan since 1967, and the establishment of some 535,691 Palestinian refugees registered with the United Nations Works Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Damascus, in addition to 40,000 Palestinian refugees who are not registered, according to the records of the General Authority for Palestine Arab Refugees (GAPAR). It should be noted that the Syrian Arab Republic is of the view that the return of the Palestinians to their own country is inevitable and in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions. Furthermore, there are some 70,000 Iraqis resident in the Syrian Arab Republic, of whom 24,000 are registered with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the Syrian Arab Republic.
Economic system
16. The Syrian Arab Republic has embarked upon a gradual transition from a command economy to a more open economic regime. It seeks constantly to provide the necessary tools to promote economic and social life. This may be seen from the economic principles enshrined in the 2012 Constitution, which stresses that: “The national economy shall be based on the principle of developing public and private economic activity through economic and social plans aimed at increasing the national income, developing production, raising the individual’s living standards and creating jobs”; “The economic policy of the State shall be aimed at meeting the basic needs of individuals and society through the achievement of economic growth and social justice in order to attain comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development”; and “The State shall guarantee the protection of producers and consumers, foster trade and investment, prevent monopoly in various economic fields and endeavour to develop human resources and protect the labour force in a way that serves the national economy” (article 13).
17. The Syrian Arab Republic has exerted great efforts through its economic policies to contain the crisis it has been experiencing for the past five years and more, to minimize the adverse effects thereof with regard both to the national economy and its global indicators, and to the living standards of its citizens. There has been a sharp fall in the rate of economic growth given that the economic and productive sectors have been subject to methodical sabotage and destruction by armed terrorist groups.
III. Normative and institutional framework for the promotion and protection of human rights
The Constitution
18. In a referendum held on 26 February 2012, the citizens of the Syrian Arab Republic approved a new national constitution by a proportion of 89.4 per cent, with a participation rate of 57.4 per cent of Syrian citizens at home and abroad. The elaboration of this Constitution was a natural development in response to current changes and transformations.
It should serve as a guideline for the State’s march towards the future, as a check on the actions of its institutions, and as a source of its legislation. Its fundamental principles
consecrate the country’s independence and sovereignty and the rule of the people based on elections, political and party pluralism, protection of national unity, cultural diversity, public freedoms, human rights, social justice, equality, equal opportunity, citizenship and the rule of law.
19. Article 1 of the Constitution reads: “The Syrian Arab Republic is a democratic State with full sovereignty, indivisible, and may not waive any part of its territory …”. Article 2 provides that “The system of governance in the State shall be a republican system;
Sovereignty is an attribute of the people; and no individual or group may claim sovereignty.” Article 3 stipulates that “The State shall respect all religions, and ensure the freedom of citizens to perform all their rituals …; the personal status of religious communities shall be protected and respected.”
20. The normative and institutional framework is based on observations concerning progress or otherwise in the legislative infrastructure of the State. Despite the crisis, the Syrian Arab Republic has achieved significant progress in its legislative panoply, as may be seen from the following:
The political participation of women
21. The Constitution has abrogated article 8, which used to stipulate that “The leading party in the society and the State is the Socialist Arab Baath Party,” and replaced it with the following text: “The political system of the State shall be based on the principle of political pluralism, and exercising power democratically through the ballot box; Licensed political parties and constituencies shall contribute to the national political life, and shall respect the principles of national sovereignty and democracy; … Carrying out any political activity or forming any political parties or groupings on [any discriminatory basis] may not be undertaken”.
22. “Freedom shall be a sacred right and the State shall guarantee the personal freedom of citizens and preserve their dignity and security ... Citizens shall be equal in rights and duties without discrimination among them on grounds of sex, origin, language, religion or creed. The State shall guarantee the principle of equal opportunities among citizens” (article 33).
23. “Freedom of belief shall be protected in accordance with the law. Every citizen shall have the right to freely and openly express his views whether in writing or orally or by all other means of expression” (article 42). “The State shall guarantee freedom of the press, printing and publishing, the media and its independence in accordance with the law”
(article 43).
24. “Citizens shall have the right to assemble, peacefully demonstrate and to strike from work … Freedom of forming associations and unions …” (articles 44 and 45).
25. “Any assault on individual freedom, on the inviolability of private life or any other rights and public freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution shall be considered a punishable crime by the law” (article 54).
26. “The President of the Republic shall be elected directly by the people” (article 86), through a competitive process from among a number of candidates, contrary to the previous Constitution, which provided for a mechanism for the selection of the President by nomination by the People’s Assembly based on a proposal by the “Arab Socialist Baath Party regional command”. “The candidacy is proposed to the citizens for referendum”
(article 84 (1)). There were three candidates in the most recent election. President Bashar al-Assad won that election with a majority of votes of the Syrian people.
Economic, social and cultural rights
27. “As a national heritage that promotes national unity in the framework of territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, the Constitution shall guarantee the protection of cultural diversity of the Syrian society with all its components and the multiplicity of its tributaries” (article 9). “Every citizen shall have the right to participate in the political, economic, social and cultural life” (article 34).
28. “Society in the Syrian Arab Republic shall be based on the basis of solidarity, symbiosis and respect for the principles of social justice, freedom, equality and maintenance of human dignity of every individual” (article 19). “The State shall provide women with all opportunities enabling them to effectively and fully contribute to the political, economic, social and cultural life, and the State shall work on removing the restrictions that prevent their development and participation in building society” (article 23).
29. “Education, health and social services shall be the basic pillars for building society, and the State shall work on achieving balanced development among all regions of the Syrian Arab Republic” (article 25). “Education shall be a right guaranteed by the State, and it is free at all levels. The law shall regulate the cases where education is fee-paying at universities and government institutes. Education shall be compulsory until the end of the basic education stage” (article 29). “The State shall support scientific research and all its requirements, ensure the freedom of scientific, literary, artistic and cultural creativity and provide the necessary means to that end. The State shall provide all possible assistance for the progress of the sciences and the arts, and shall encourage scientific and technical inventions, creative skills and talents and protect their results” (article 31).
National mechanisms for the protection of human rights
30. The judiciary is the guarantor of the protection of human rights, and ensures their application by means of judicial oversight at various levels, including the Supreme Constitutional Court, which was re-established by Law No. 7 of 2014, and also the following mechanisms:
(a) National Committee for International Humanitarian Law: This Committee was established by Decision No. 2989 of the President of the Council of Ministers [Prime Minister] of 2 January 2004. Its mandate was revised by Decision No.
2072 of the President of the Council of Ministers of 21 July 2015. It was given responsibility for coordinating national efforts for awareness-building and the dissemination of international humanitarian law, proposing plans of work and training, and making proposals to harmonize national legislation with relevant international instruments.
The Committee held its first meeting in the presence of a delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the ICRC mission in the Syrian Arab Republic.
(b) National (Regional) Committee on Monitoring the Rights of the Child in the Light of the Crisis in the Syrian Arab Republic: This Committee was established by Decision No. 2310 of 20 August 2013, and was given responsibility for documenting violations committed by the armed groups against children, preparing national reports on violations to which children have been subjected, establishing a database and conducting a study on cases of recruitment of child soldiers and using children in combat actions.
(c) Syrian Commission for Family Affairs and Population: This Commission was established by Law No. 42 of 20 December 2003, which was amended by Law No. 6 of 2014. It was entrusted with protecting families, consolidating their cohesiveness, and preserving their identity and values. It is also responsible for monitoring and coordinating
efforts to implement the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and for proposing amendments to legislation governing family and population matters.
(d) Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons: The Office was created by Law No.
3 of 2010. Its purpose is to prevent crimes of trafficking in persons and to protect victims.
A national plan was drawn up to combat crimes of trafficking in persons and to protect and care for victims.
International agreements
31. International agreements are a source from which national legislators derive texts regulating human rights. The Syrian Arab Republic has acceded to most human rights agreements,1 which means that domestic laws in force in this field are not contrary to these agreements. Furthermore, the submission of periodic reports to the bodies of the contracting parties established by such human rights conventions has greatly contributed to strengthening and protecting such rights and to benefiting from the discussions on the reports and the concluding remarks regarding them, which have been translated into national workplans adopted by the Syrian Government, to which budgets have been allocated.
IV. Promotion and protection of human rights in practice
32. The Syrian Arab Republic has taken a number of legislative, administrative and executive actions to strengthen and protect human rights and ensure their application in practice.
Civil and political rights
33. The Syrian Arab Republic has taken important, substantive steps for the implementation of a comprehensive national reform programme, including the ending of the state of emergency, the abolition of the Supreme State Security Court, the abolition of the Economic Security Court, and the adoption of a number of laws in favour of democracy and human rights, including:
• Law No. 100 of 3 August 2011 on Political Parties authorized the establishment of political parties in the Syrian Arab Republic. At the time of compiling this report, the number of authorized political parties was 21.2
• Law No. 54 of 2011 on the Organization of Demonstrations.
• Law No. 5 of 2014 on General Elections.
• Law No. 108 of 2011 on Information Media.
34. Freedom is a sacred right guaranteed by the Constitution and the law. In a number of laws, Syrian legislators have addressed the question of not allowing anyone to be detained without charges being brought against them, of providing legal guarantees to the accused, and of ensuring that judicial procedures and trials are expedited without delay.
Legislators amended article 17 of the Law on Judicial Practice concerning the period for which suspects may be detained in cases of crimes against the security of the State or public safety (arts. 260-339 of the Penal Code), forgery, slander (arts. 392 and 393), concealing a person who has committed an offence or helping them to evade justice (art. 221), such that the judicial police or those entrusted with their tasks may investigate such crimes and detain
suspects, provided that the period of such detention does not exceed seven days, renewable by the Public Prosecutor in accordance with the facts of each separate case, and that such period does not exceed 60 days in total. This constitutes a guarantee that no person shall be detained except with judicial authorization. With a view to strengthening protection of the right to freedom, Law No. 20 of 2013 on Criminalizing Kidnapping was adopted.
35. The Constitution affirms that the right of litigation, appeal, retrial and judicial defence is inviolable in law. The Constitution further specifies that any administrative act or decision is immune from judicial control and provides that “Any person sentenced by a final ruling, whose sentence has been carried out and the ruling proved wrong shall have the right to demand compensation from the State for the damage incurred” (article 53 (4)).
The State guarantees legal assistance to those unable to afford it, in accordance with the law. Consequently, the Law on Legal Assistance was amended by Law No. 29 of 2013, which exempts litigants from having to pay costs or insurance charges should they be materially unable to do so.
36. Despite the conditions the country is experiencing, and the attacks by armed terrorist groups against the judiciary in various parts of the Syrian Arab Republic, the judiciary institutions have continued to perform their functions to protect human rights. Criminal cases examined in 2010-2015 broke down as follows: 648 cases involving trafficking in persons, 8,744 cases involving corruption, 5,347 cases involving murder, 3,335 cases involving violence against women, and 2,015 cases involving violence against children.
37. Freedom of expression is protected under the Constitution and in Syrian law. In affirmation of this right, Law No. 108 of 2011 on Information Media regulates all matters relating to freedom of expression in the print, audio-visual and electronic information media: it proclaims that information is independent, and that freedom of information may only be restricted in accordance with the Constitution and the law. The pursuit of media work is based on fundamental rules, the most important of which is freedom of expression.
Opinions published by a media professional may not be a cause for that right to be infringed; furthermore, no authority has the right to demand that media professionals divulge the sources of their information except by means of the judiciary.
38. Right of peaceful assembly is guaranteed by the Constitution. Law No. 54 of 2011 regulates the exercise of this right, in accordance with internationally accepted standards.
Citizens, political parties, people’s organizations, trade unions and civil society organizations may all hold demonstrations. A committee was established under Law No. 54 of 2011 whose task is to examine applications to hold demonstrations. The Committee has received 477 such applications since 2011, of which 385 were granted and 92 were rejected.
39. The Constitution guarantees the right to citizenship (article 48) and Law No. 276 of 1969 regulates the granting of citizenship. Amendments thereto are currently under consideration in order to bring the law into line with the Constitution. As part of its policy aimed at guaranteeing the right to citizenship, the Government has taken all necessary steps to ensure that all Syrian citizens are duly registered and provided with identity and other documents, especially in areas in which the armed terrorist groups have destroyed personal status records. For such cases, alternative centres have been designated and new centres established for the issuance of official documents. The relevant Government authorities have taken a number of decisions and measures to facilitate the registration of personal status events, both in the Syrian Arab Republic and abroad. These include Law No. 25 of 2015 on Registration of Births and circulars issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates to Syrian diplomatic missions for the registration of personal status events and in order to facilitate the issuance of passports to Syrian nationals resident abroad.
40. Law No. 49 of 2011 granted Syrian citizenship to persons registered in the registers of foreigners in Hasaka (Kurds). The number of persons concerned by that measure was 124,949; the number of applicants was 115,450, who obtained citizenship, together with their families.
41. With regard to the prohibition of torture, Syrian law makes torture, even in its simplest forms, a criminal offence, and those who engage in it liable to punishment (art.
391 of the Penal Code), and the punishment is increased if the torture is accompanied by or results in such damage as permanent injury or bodily harm. Article 116 of the Military Penal Code criminalizes all forms of acts of force relating to the rights of suspects during detention. No one may be detained without charges being brought against them, in accordance with due legal process; otherwise, such detention is unlawful deprivation of liberty, which is punishable by law in accordance with articles 357 and 358 of the Penal Code.
42. In implementation thereof, prisons are subject to monitoring and inspection on a permanent and continuous basis by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior.
The Law on Judicial Practice entrusts the Public Prosecutor with the task of monitoring the course of justice and supervising the court system and the prisons and other places of detention (art. 15). The Law also obliges investigating magistrates and justices of the peace to inspect persons held in places of detention and prisons once a month, and the chiefs of penal courts at least once every three months (art. 422). It also requires anyone who becomes aware of persons being held in premises other than those foreseen by the Government for detention or arrest to so inform the Public Prosecutor or his assistant or an investigating magistrate or justice of the peace (art. 424). Under Syrian law, there is no immunity for crimes relating to acts of torture, whoever the authority; should such cases come to light, they are to be dealt with in accordance with the law, no matter who the perpetrator is.
43. The Ministry of the Interior, under the heading of cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has authorized numerous visits by representatives of ICRC to Syrian prisons, and has discussed prisoners’ conditions. The Syrian Government has received reports on the results of those visits, and has accepted a number of recommendations and taken steps to carry them out.
Economic, social and cultural rights
44. Since 2011, the Syrian Arab Republic has adopted economic and social policies to address the challenges of development, which affect society adversely. That has taken the form of issuing and amending numerous laws aimed at creating a legislative climate which promotes economic circumstances and ensures a decent standard of living to all sections of society, most important of which are:
• Creation of an institution for medium- and small-scale projects, pursuant to Law No.
2 of 2016
• Creation of an institution to guarantee loans for small-scale projects, pursuant to Law No. 12 of 2016 with a view to strengthening the role of financial institutions
• Creation of a body to support and develop local production and exports, pursuant to Law No. 3 of 2016 with a view to activating and developing mechanisms for the protection and development of local production
45. Throughout the crisis, the Syrian Government has endeavoured to pursue social empowerment policies by means of poverty-alleviation schemes aimed at enhancing family income (humanitarian aid, grants) and programmes, projects and activities (local and
international) for the poorest inhabitants by ensuring that they enjoy social and economic rights and by strengthening production sectors in order to generate job opportunities; the most important such policies are:
• Developing the work of civil society and civil society cooperation and partnerships, benefiting from and sponsoring voluntary initiatives, and increasing the number of social security centres
• Developing the work of social assistance funds for the poorest and establishing income-generating projects and job opportunities
• Working to enact new investment laws to alleviate the effects of the humanitarian crisis and to promote various types of economic and social activity
46. Under the heading of the rights of the child, the dangers to which children are exposed have increased as a result of the crisis: recruitment of child soldiers for use in combat actions, trafficking in children, and physical and sexual aggression against children.
New hazards have arisen as a result of the crisis, such as dropping out from school, child labour, separation of children from their families, and failure to register children in personal status registers. As part of its constitutional responsibility, the Government has taken a number of steps to strengthen and protect children’s rights, including enacting laws, establishing committees and drawing up national plans.
47. With regard to women’s rights, by pooling efforts with civil society institutions, the Government seeks to empower women, oppose and halt all forms of violence against women, and endeavour to build awareness of women’s rights in the light of current conditions. The Government continues to pursue its policies of ensuring the full participation of women in political, economic and social life. Women are present at all levels of decision-making, from the positions of Vice-President of the Republic, President of the People’s Assembly and Adviser to the President to the presence of 32 women deputies in the People’s Assembly, 3 women ministers, women chiefs of people’s organizations, political parties, civil society institutions, organizations and associations. In addition to the presence of women in the judiciary and the diplomatic service, women also work as chiefs of government bodies, deputy ministers, directors-general, vice-chancellors of universities, deans of faculties, directors of hospitals, etc. Women are also represented in the Syrian delegation to the Geneva II and Geneva III conferences on Syria and in the national reconciliation committees in the People’s Assembly and in civil society reconciliation initiatives, which has enabled women to contribute effectively to the peace process, to rehabilitation, and to the preservation and defence of women’s rights.
48. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour has implemented a programme for the preparation of the National Strategy for Women and a programme for the development of mechanisms to tackle gender-based violence, and has undertaken a number of activities, including the provision and enhancement of social security services for the most vulnerable categories. Similarly, work has been done on preparing a national strategy for the implementation of the 2014 recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
49. Concerning the right to education, the education infrastructure has suffered severe damage from being targeted by the terrorists. Educational buildings, apparatus and equipment have all been damaged: 28 per cent of the entire stock of educational buildings has been damaged, and numerous educational staff have migrated to relatively safer governorates or districts.
50. Government expenditure on the education sector in 2015 was 8.4 per cent of total expenditure on all sectors as compared with 4.4 per cent in 2011. Some 4.5 million students and pupils were in education in the 2015/16 academic year.
51. With regard to preventing children from dropping out of school, Law No. 7 of 2012 was enacted, which obliges all parents or guardians of Syrian children between the ages of 6 and 15 to send them to school at the basic education level, and prescribes legal penalties for those who allow such children to drop out of school.
52. With respect to the rights of disabled persons, the current crisis has had an adverse effect on the prevalence of disability in the Syrian Arab Republic, in particular with increased numbers suffering from disabilities incurred as a result of terrorist actions. The crisis has also noticeably affected the quality of programmes in institutions caring for the disabled, some of which have undergone sabotage and plunder, and many of which have ceased providing their services.
53. Concerning cultural rights, cultural centres play an active role in cultural life and run various activities which help such rights to be exercised. A Centre of Excellence and Creativity was established under Law No. 11 of 2016 with a view to identifying outstanding creative artists and encouraging and supporting national capacities in the production of ideas, innovation and creativity in order to promote well-being and sustainable development and ensure a climate of giftedness, excellence and creativity at all levels.
The role of civil society
54. The Syrian Arab Republic continues to provide a propitious climate to enable civil society to participate in humanitarian response actions. This has been reflected in the work of civil society and how independent and responsive it is, which has in turn led to an increase in the number of civil society organizations of various types, from people’s organizations to trade unions, associations and youth initiatives. The number of such associations in 2016 was 1,662, which were found all over Syrian territory, and the scope of their work accounts for 88.7 per cent of that of the founding organizations. As a result of the circumstances and requirements arising from the current crisis, a number of voluntary initiatives have come from young people as a new type of voluntary civil work, which the Government has included within its Voluntary Initiatives Platform, in order to provide an opportunity to members of society to get involved in voluntary work, especially in the field of services.
55. Foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) enjoy facilities and the possibility of cooperation with the Government under a humanitarian response plan to strengthen resistance and recovery by meeting the needs of the greatest possible number of affected individuals. Some 21 foreign NGOs were licensed to work in the Syrian Arab Republic in the field of humanitarian and relief work.
56. The contribution of civil society helped to provide humanitarian assistance and relief and to create the infrastructure needed to reach those in need. The Government has shown great flexibility in dealing with the activities of civil society, and this has strengthened its ability to gain access to funding and to involve it in the various stages of humanitarian response.
V. The current crisis and its impact on human rights
57. Terrorism, unilateral coercive measures and the Israeli occupation are the chief fundamental reasons which led to the outbreak and aggravation of the crisis.
Terrorist acts and their impact on human rights
58. The Syrian Arab Republic is facing an organized terrorist insurrection supported by Arab, regional and foreign governments and their armed terrorist auxiliaries, groups and organizations with their various ideologies and denominations. Those governments’
continued overt support, financing and arming of the terrorist groups and the opening of their borders to terrorists from more than 100 countries, as confirmed in relevant Security Council reports on combating terrorism, is a prime reason for the strengthening of the capacities of such groups, for their transformation into highly structured takfīrī [declaring all others to be infidels] transnational terrorist organizations, for the dissemination of creative chaos over the region, for the widening of their influence by deepening and broadening the humanitarian suffering of Syrians.
59. The impact of terrorism has gravely affected all human rights, such as the right to life and the rights to security, dignity, health, education, work and food, and the right to a decent standard of living, etc., leading to catastrophic effects, such as:
• Systematic destruction, which affects public and private property, facilities and infrastructure, such as schools, clinics, palaces of justice (judicial complexes), courthouses, electric power stations, water facilities, and which constitutes a drain on natural wealth and resources.
• Application of inhuman sanctions and contriving to use unlawful methods of manslaughter, enslavement, bondage and forced labour.
• Violating the freedom of religion and belief and the right to celebrate religious rites.
• Attacking and plundering cultural property with a view to financing their activities, destroying historical and archaeological sites and killing archaeologists.
• Destruction by armed terrorist groups of some 141 cultural centres in all governorates, out of a total of 364 such centres.
• Violation of the right to education: armed terrorist groups have violated the right to education in areas controlled by them, where they have abrogated official Government curricula and replaced them with curricula that are consistent with takfīrī Wahhabi thought. This has led to students at all levels of education losing education opportunities and deprived more than 670,000 Syrian pupils of their education, according to a 2015 report by UNICEF. Such terrorist groups have transformed schools and hospitals, after plundering them of all their contents, into detention centres, barracks and centres for military training and torture. Between the beginning of the crisis and 2015, some 3,549 schools were totally or partially damaged, in addition to the damage inflicted on a large number of nursery schools.
• Violation of the right to health: the armed terrorist groups have targeted hospitals and health centres, where direct losses inflicted on health institutions coming under the Ministry of Health since the beginning of the events have exceeded SYP 30 billion up to 2016. For instance, 39 medical clinics were partially damaged and 11 were completely damaged out of a total of 106 such clinics. Some 603 health centres belonging to the Ministry of Health were put out of commission in 2016, as were 313 ambulances, out of a total of 680. A large number of pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities have been destroyed and plundered, and there has been large-scale emigration of medical staff (owing to threats to be killed or kidnapped).
• The armed terrorist groups have impeded Ministry of Health national vaccination campaigns by preventing vaccination teams from entering a number of areas and using threats and intimidation against health professionals on the one hand, and
preventing local inhabitants from having their children vaccinated on the other.
Those terrorist groups also bring in vaccines across the border without respecting the necessary medical conditions and guidelines for the transport of vaccines, which means that they are subject to spoilage and degradation. Furthermore, suspect groups or individuals without the necessary experience or qualifications from the Government health authorities are not trained in administering such vaccines, which entails grave risks to the lives of innocent Syrian children living in those areas. In Idlib Governorate in 2014, for instance, such an incident claimed the lives of 15 children, which violated the right of children to health and corporal integrity. The inoculation rate was 100 per cent in 2010, but had dropped by the end of 2015 to 68 per cent for tuberculosis, 60 per cent for quadriplegia, and 65 per cent for tetanus.
• Violation of women’s rights: over the years of the crisis, Syrian women have fallen prey to the vilest forms of terrorism and extremism, with terrorist groups subjecting them to the twin crimes of rape and collective rape. They have confined women within their barbarous ideology, which affects their role in society, their families, their clothes, their education and their jobs. They have imposed upon them the rulings of “Sharia courts”, which are contrary to the dignity and freedom they enjoyed in the Syrian Arab Republic in past decades, as guaranteed by the Constitution and national laws.
• Forced marriages and child marriages: these phenomena are becoming very prevalent in the areas controlled by the terrorist groups: young girls are forced to get married owing to the deteriorating material circumstances of their families on the one hand, and for fear of being attacked on the other. This phenomenon is also spreading in refugee camps, where young girls are trafficked using “camouflaged marriage” as a pretext, although most marriage contracts are not registered — all these things are reproduced and described in United Nations reports and reports of international human rights organizations. The tragedy of young Syrian girls who are trafficked has been highlighted for the whole world to see, for instance in a UNICEF report which indicated that the rate of forced marriages among young Syrian women in refugee camps in neighbouring countries had doubled with respect to what it was at the beginning of the crisis, reaching 32 per cent in the first quarter of 2014.
• Recruitment of child soldiers: the phenomenon of the recruitment of child soldiers has become prevalent in the areas controlled by the armed terrorist groups and in camps in neighbouring countries, with the groups exploiting the socioeconomic conditions of children and their families for that purpose. Armed battalions have been formed under various names, such as Ashbāl al-Zarqāwī (al-Zarqawi Cubs), Ashbāl Jabhat al-Nuṣrah (Jabhat al-Nusrah Cubs) and Ashbāl al-Khilāfah (Caliphate Cubs), with children ranging from 5 to 15 years of age, which constitutes a violation of their rights, makes them armed combatants, and throws them into the thick of terrorist actions, in violation of all relevant international instruments on the rights of the child.
• Crimes of systematic kidnapping: since the beginning of the crisis the phenomenon of kidnapping has become prevalent, and this was previously unknown in Syrian society. Armed terrorist groups have kidnapped a large number of people from their villages after having entered them or from villages which they control, for their own purposes, such as using them as human shields or for digging tunnels or for trafficking or use as child soldiers (persons kidnapped from the industrial area of Adra, the countryside round Aleppo, Homs, Deir al-Zor and Latakia). Kidnap operations are accompanied by acts of systematic torture leading even to death. In view of the gravity of this fact, Syrian legislators enacted a law on crimes of kidnapping in 2013, which criminalized kidnapping for political purposes, for
material gain, for reasons of revenge, for ransom, or for confessional reasons, with stiffened penalties for such crimes. The number of verified kidnappings was 9,416 between 2011 and 2016. Some 1,207 persons have been arrested and turned over to the relevant judicial authorities.
• In the field of agriculture: the armed terrorist groups have pursued a policy of burning agricultural land, destroying crops, poisoning water, stealing livestock, stealing insecticides and fertilizers, cutting off irrigation channels, booby-trapping irrigation dams or the Euphrates dam, and kidnapping farmers, which has led to environmental and climatic imbalances. The total value of direct and indirect losses inflicted on the agricultural sector is SYP 650 billion.
• In the field of industry: the armed terrorist groups have taken over a large number of industrial facilities, especially those located in the northern region, and destroyed them systematically after plundering their contents and dismantling them. A report by a national legal committee responsible for documenting crimes of theft of industrial facilities and transport thereof to Turkey by the terrorist groups indicates that those groups have taken over and dismantled more than 1,000 factories and sold them to Turkey. The value of the losses is estimated to be US$ 3,016,325,000.
Those groups have also kidnapped industrialists and threatened them with murder or put pressure on them to emigrate or to halt their investments in the country. They have also stolen, extracted and refined Syrian oil using primitive methods, giving rise to environmental damage; this has been done in cooperation and coordination with Turkey in violation of Security Council resolutions relating to the fight against terrorism and the funding of terrorism, and thus stealing Syrian oil and trading illicitly in it, not to mention the European Union’s illogical legitimization of the purchase of stolen oil.
Unilateral coercive measures and their impact on the promotion and protection of human rights
60. Since the middle of 2011, the countries of the European Union3 and the United States of America have imposed on the Syrian Arab Republic successive packages of unilateral economic measures which lie outside the scope of international legality, on all economic sectors, in a bid to hollow out the achievements secured by the Syrian Government in all fields, and this has had an adverse impact on the lives and rights of Syrian citizens, especially their right to development, jobs and a life of dignity. Such measures have been focused on the following:
• commercial penalties (restricting imports and exports), especially with regard to medical supplies and equipment, drugs and chemical products, electronic apparatus, equipment and machines, aircraft and aircraft engines and spare parts;
• restriction of insurance operations, imposition of sanctions on certain foreign companies working in the Syrian Arab Republic, and suspension of development projects being carried out by the European Union in the Syrian Arab Republic;4
• limitation of the financial capacity of the country by prohibiting the sale of oil;
• imposition of restrictions on transactions in United States dollars, restriction of external commercial transactions by the State, the freezing of assets and the imposition of sanctions and restrictions on the movement and activities of certain institutions which play an active role in economic life.
61. Difficulties have been created regarding the provision of basic requirements, especially in the health, foodstuffs and electricity sectors, and the opening of lines of credit
for the import of medicines and medical equipment, which has given rise to technical, administrative and financial difficulties and challenges. Furthermore, this has hampered the provision of basic requirements for the day-to-day life of Syrian citizens by raising the cost of foreign insurance on shipping costs to the Syrian Arab Republic, and halting numerous flights by international airlines to Syrian airports in view of the war and various pressures and the embargo against the country. This has led to an aggravation of the already difficult humanitarian conditions in all areas and is aimed at prompting Syrians to flee to neighbouring countries, leaving their home regions inside the country behind them and creating additional pressure on the Government and its resources.
62. There has been an adverse impact on the provision of medical apparatus, equipment, supplies and spare parts to hospitals, not to mention medicines, serums and other preventive items such as vaccines, and this has had a negative impact on the health situation and the capacity to respond to emergency situations.
63. The coercive measures have prevented Syrians from obtaining such basic requirements as foodstuffs, medicines, medical equipment, fuel, and agricultural, educational and cultural necessities. They have weakened resistance, aggravated the conditions of most social categories, especially poor people and displaced persons, increased unemployment rates, depressed the exchange rate of the Syrian pound, and boosted hoarding and price inflation. All this constitutes violations of Syrian human rights, as shown by the following figures:
• Very high levels of food insecurity, which affected no more than 1.2 per cent of the population in 2010, but following the crisis rose to 33 per cent, and now stands at 51.6 per cent.
• The level of agricultural production declined significantly, which has led to increased levels of inflation, high prices in general and high food prices in particular, reaching 500 per cent in 2015 as against 2011. This has been accompanied by 2 million Syrians losing their jobs, jeopardizing the lives of more than 6.4 million people and throwing them into poverty. United Nations estimates of the proportion of people below the poverty line shows it rising to over 80 per cent.
• The low exchange rate of the Syrian pound against the dollar and other convertible currencies, which has led to great inflation and high prices for basic commodities.
64. A number of United Nations officials have recognized the tremendous impact of these coercive measures in various reports, both written and oral. Among the more notable are the 2013 report by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the 2013 report by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), and the statement by the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Syrian Arab Republic at the information meeting held by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva on 4 January 2014, in which he outlined with great clarity the adverse effects of the coercive measures, showing the widening impact of those measures on the standard of living of individuals and on various economic and service sectors in the Syrian Arab Republic.
The Israeli occupation
65. The continuing Israeli occupation is undermining all efforts aimed at protecting human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan in view of Israel’s repression, racial discrimination, detention, torture and deprivation of Syrian citizens of their natural resources, including oil, gas and water, and increasing the number of settlements.
66. Despite all the difficulties and adverse effects arising from the crisis, which has now entered its sixth year, the Syrian Arab Republic continues to host Palestinian refugees on its territory, with whom it shares all citizens’ rights. The investment budget of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour continues to allocate large sums to the General Authority for Palestine Arab Refugees (GAPAR).
67. In continuation of the violations by the Israeli occupation authorities of all international instruments, Israel provides overt support in funding, weapons and medical care to the armed terrorist groups, and first and foremost to Jabhat al-Nusrah. One aspect of this support has been Israeli-Qatari coordination with the terrorist Jabhat al-Nusrah organization in the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) separation zone in the occupied Syrian Golan, and their kidnapping of UNDOF personnel and the return of the same once Qatar paid a ransom to the terrorist group, which ensures continued funding to Jabhat al-Nusrah terrorists and those terrorists’ continued dissemination of terror and chaos in the occupied Syrian Golan, putting the lives of international peacekeeping forces in great danger and helping Israel to continue its occupation of the occupied Syrian Golan.
68. Reports on UNDOF by the Secretary-General have confirmed that the Israeli occupation forces cooperate with the armed terrorist groups, including those connected with al-Qaida in the separation zone, and provide support to them, which has meant that United Nations forces are subject to kidnapping and has undermined the mandate of UNDOF and its ability to perform its functions. This constitutes a violation of the Agreement on Disengagement between Israeli and Syrian Forces and of international law and relevant Security Council resolutions. It has also led to greater freedom of movement for these groups in the separation zone, and to the Israeli entity targeting Syrian positions, in flagrant violation of international law.
69. The United Nations, including the Security Council, is called upon to shoulder its responsibilities to end the Israeli occupation and halt its barbarous policies and continued aggression, to oblige Israel to withdraw from all the occupied Arab territories to the line of 4 June 1967, in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions, especially Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 497 (1981), and to oblige it to halt its support to terrorist groups and to cease arming them and providing them with logistical facilities.
VI. Challenges and their impact on human rights
Humanitarian access
70. Delivery of humanitarian assistance faces numerous difficulties consisting in the following:
• The blockade imposed by the armed terrorist groups on entire regions for long periods of time and their refusal to admit aid.
• The armed terrorist groups target and attack humanitarian aid caravans.
• Lack of security in the regions in which such groups are present.
• Cutting off roads and targeting civilian airports.
• Attacking humanitarian aid personnel including medical personnel.
• Selling aid or presenting it as humanitarian aid supplied by the armed terrorist groups by affixing their slogans to it.
