The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

SOHR: Marking Human Rights Day | Syria’s tragedy continues

Marking the 73rd anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights today December 10, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) calls on the Syrian people of all backgrounds to prioritize and embrace peace, the interest of the nation and to consider the difficult conditions the people of Syria who have endured throughout this protracted and devastating war.

 

SOHR would like to remind all the warring sides in Syria of the tragedies of the people who have been experiencing death, hunger, displacement, and miseries in the makeshift camps, and of the collaborators and perpetrators who took part in violating the c human rights of the people of Syria.

 

The continuing silence and indifference of the international community and the human rights organisations to the catastrophic and tragic situation in Syria is deplorable and needs to be addressed. The bloodshed and sufferings have been mounting since the beginning of the Syrian revolution, and this needs to stop. The statistics of the Syrian tragedy are harrowing: 

 

  • Since March 2011, more than one million persons including 155,002 women were arrested by the regime security services. Furthermore, more than 105,000 persons were killed in the regime detention centres. SOHR sources have documented 47,512 deaths with names including 47,109 males, 64 females and 339 children under the age of 18.

 

  • Between May 2013 and October 2015, 83 percent of the detainees in detention centres were murdered. SOHR sources reported that more than 30,000 prisoners died in the notorious Sednaya Prison while the rest perished in the prisons of military and Air-Force Intelligence services.

 

  • The number of detainees in regime prisons is 152,713 persons including 41,312 females.

 

  • The number of forcibly disappeared persons is 128,074 persons including 20,315 females.

 

  • The number of detainees and forcibly disappeared persons totals 280,416, while 102,453 others were arrested on terrorism charges.

 

SOHR also warns against the continuous breach of truce and cessation of hostility agreements as such deals are violated all the time by the regime services, its proxies and different factions.

 

We call on all concerned parties on this special day to promote peace and end this senseless and futile conflict that has been plaguing the Syrian people, draining their resources and scarring them for life. It is time for collaboration, peace and national healing.

 

We also appeal to all those involved in the conflict to adopt a courageous stance and to respond to the calls of our people, listen to and feel voices and pains of the tortured and oppressed, and reach a lasting political settlement in accordance with the UN resolutions.

 

SOHR urges all those who care about the safety and sovereignty of the nation to put their differences and narrow interests aside, unite and agree a plan that would get all foreign forces that have contributed to this tragedy out of Syria. We also call for a just transitional arrangement, and accountability for all those who committed crimes and atrocities and violated the rights of Syrian people. We call for the return of those detained in Turkey, so that they would be tried in Syria in accordance with Syrian laws. 

 

We urgently call for the release of detainees and forcibly disappeared and we need to know their fate and whereabouts immediately.

 

For SOHR, every day is Human Rights Day and we shall continue to fearlessly defend human rights in Syria and elsewhere.