This report is the fourth in a series, which together constitute the Humanitarian File prepared by the Syrian Civic Platform (SCP). This data was collected through consultations held with nearly 3,500 diverse Syrians between October 2017 and May 2018.
Executive Summary:
The issue of arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance is one of the most critical issues affecting Syrians across the country. Government of Syria (GoS) security and intelligence agencies are responsible for the arrest and disappearance of a largest number of political and civil activists, as well as opposition fighters; such detention by the GoS has often been accompanied by systematic torture.
Opposition armed groups have also arbitrarily arrested and forcibly-disappeared rival rebels, as well as medical personnel and media activists. These disappearances have often occurred in light of the infighting that is taking place between various armed groups in areas under contested control.
This report sheds light on the views of the population in various Syrian provinces on the issue of arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances. It is the fourth of a series of reports that together constitute the Humanitarian File compiled by the SCP and based on community consultation sessions conducted with diverse groups of Syrians between October 2017 and May 2018.
The accompanying reports address the following issues:
– Siege
– Forced demographic change
– The Astana de-escalation zones agreement
– Internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees.
The report was based on 304 community consultation sessions conducted between October 2017 and May 2018, in nine Syrian provinces: Idlib, Hassakeh, Raqqa, Deir Ezzor, Homs, Damascus countryside, Suweida, Daraa, and Quneitra. Additional sessions were conducted with Syrians seeking asylum in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraqi Kurdistan. A total of 3,376 people participated in the sessions, 46.6% (1,580) of whom were women, and 705 of whom represented civil society organizations (CSOs).
From the consultations, this report arrives at the following conclusions:
1. In most Syrian villages, towns and cities, arbitrary arrests and the use of enforced disappearance are widespread and are carried out by all parties to the conflict.
2. Detainees suffer gross human rights violations and abuses in detention centers and facilities; each day that passes will likely see more of the disappeared tortured or executed.
3. All parties to the conflict operate secret as well as publicly acknowledged prisons.
4. Military and civil judicial oversight bodies do exist; however, most of them are not fair and impartial due to their lack of autonomy, and the high incidences of corruption, bribery and nepotism.
5. The role of CSOs regarding detainees and the disappeared are almost insignificant and limited to providing statistics on their numbers, conducting advocacy campaigns and mobilizing people around the world to support their cases, and in some instances providing lawyers to defend detainees.