Syrian Revolution 11 years on | Killing, destruction and displacement continue, while intervention by international power has worsened the situation in Syria further

For 11 years, the apparently endless war has been battering Syria, killing, injuring and displacing millions of Syrian people with no workable solution looming on the horizon still.

 

Considerable sufferings and dramatic developments and crises have led to disastrous conditions which have affected all the segments of the Syrian society, especially children who have been robbed of their childhood and dreams and fallen victims of terrorism.

 

For 11 years, Syria has been a battlefield where international powers have competed for narrow mutual and selfish interests, disregarding the lives and safety of civilians. These powers have used and enslaved those who “sold their conscience” and changed the “noble” objectives of the popular uprising for financial gains through their reprehensible practices which have been added to the Syrian regime’s repression and criminality by diverse military formation which left nothing but destruction.

 

For 11 years, meetings, negotiations and conferences have been held in Syria and in other Arab and foreign countries, some of which aimed to trade in the sufferings of Syrian people. However, free voices could keep adhering to “honourable” stances calling for the unity of Syria.

 

As a human rights organisation concerned with Syria’s affairs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has documented the death of 499,657 people since the beginning of the Syrian Revolution: 338,976 non-civilians and 160,681 civilians.

 

These fatalities have been documented by names out of a total death of 610,000 people whose deaths have been verified by SOHR in the past 11 years.

 

A heavy death toll of a war defined as the most violent and dramatic conflict since the World War II, while the shocking statistics and figures that have been documented during this conflict cannot not be covered in only one article.

 

In this report, SOHR would like to shed light on the most prominent developments, issues and sectors affects by Syria’s war in the past 11 years, and these can be summarised in the following main points:

 

 

Ruined economy

 

Syria’s dilapidated economy, which has been still in freefall due to the protracted and stifling crises, has affected only Syrian civilians who have had nothing to do with this “crazy” conflict and pressure and repression by the Syrian regime and opposition rebel factions. Most Syrians have been starved under a series of “unjust” sanctions imposed by international powers. Moreover, all of Syria’s resources have been placed at the service of military operations at a time when factories and farmlands have been destroyed as a part of the scorched-earth campaign. The services institutions and facilities which had secured stable income for millions and residential areas have been bombarded. Millions of Syrian people therefore found themselves homeless without decent standards of living or basic rights which they had revolted for.

 

The war in Syria has halted industrial production which had secured job opportunities for nearly 40 percent of the labour force in Syria, where the number of businesses and factories has shrunk from 130,000 institutions before the Revolution to 71,000. Also, an average of destruction has been estimated in 2020 to be nearly 5.4 billion USD.

 

Experts have described the industrial sector as the “most devastated,” and stated that hundreds of millions of USD are needed to revive this sector through reconstructing devastated factories and reopening factories whose owners declared bankruptcy and those which have been forced to close by regime forces and some opposition parties, so that production will be resumed and job opportunities will be secured. This solution can be reached through a political settlement and consensus by all warring parties regarding putting an end to the war and excluding every solution leading to the division of Syria which has been home to different and diverse ethnicities for centuries.

 

The conflict has also affected the agriculture sector with thousands of hectares of farmlands, which have been a vital resource serving millions of people. Agricultural land has been destroyed, along with reduction in crops output due to the noticeable increase in the prices of supplies and equipment which farmers need, such as fertilizers. In addition, capturing of land by any of the conflicting parties and successive waves of mass exodus have threatened food security.

 

It is worth noting that agricultural production has been suspended almost completely in some regions, including Aleppo and Idlib, due to the fierce battles and ongoing bombardment of farmlands.

 

On the other hand, droughts and harsh weather conditions have left a disastrous impact on agriculture production, further burdening the residents and farmers who repeatedly complained, via SOHR, of the damage to potato fields and greenhouses due to windstorms in north Syria region.

 

Furthermore, the prohibitively high prices of fuel have forced farmers to resort to rudimentary methods of farming, which led to decline in production. Meanwhile, farmers are waiting for  a political settlement in Syria and starting programs for reconstruction, so that they can use modern methods to cultivate their farmlands and up production and secure so many job opportunities for young men.

 

 

Extreme poverty

 

One of the most serious outcomes of the war was the fact that nearly 90 percent of Syrian people have fallen below the poverty line, as monthly salaries of employees do not exceed 20 USD. Such situations have spurred the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to call, in a statement marking 11 years of “brutal fighting” in Syria, for stopping the war to save millions of Syrians who are struggling to survive in light of the blatant violations to international laws and human rights. Guterres noted that the slow but systematic destruction of basic infrastructure around the country, since the civil war began in 2011, has “deepened the economic crisis” and now, humanitarian needs are at their highest level since the conflict began.

 

According to UN statistics, most of the Syrian people live on a dollar a day, which contravenes with the international standards of proper nutrition.

 

 

The war has turned Syria into one of the poorest countries around the world with 82.5 percent of the population considered as poor and some nine million people, having no enough food. While no serious efforts have been exerted by international actors to ease the Syrians’ sufferings and put an end to the sanctions which have impoverished and starved all Syrian people without leaving a tangible effect on the ruling class or stopping the regime’s atrocities.

 

 

Exhausted women

 

Syrian women have been hard hit by a devastating war and responsibility to take care of their families and secure their needs, after many had lost their husbands. Such challenges, not seen before the Syrian crisis, have contributed to the prevalence of exploitation and sexual abuse against Syrian women, which violates all social traditions, laws, and human rights.

 

Females in Syria have been struggling with unbearable responsibilities, after too many girls being robbed of their right to attain education, while women have been exposed to exploitation over their acute need of income. Employers set unfair conditions to women who have no options but to accept in order to earn their living, while little girls are forced into marriage, so that their families do not bear their expenses anymore, let alone the alarming increase in “honour killing” incidents among tribal societies that embrace “obsolete” traditions, masculinity and patriarchal ideology and underestimation of women.

 

The conflict which has been ongoing in different areas throughout Syria has deprived women from receiving proper medication in light of the prevalent diseases and increasing rate of deaths due to poor services and shortage of medicines and medical equipment, as well as malnutrition because of food and water shortage and pollution.

 

Moreover, Syrian women, even university graduates, are struggling with the increasing rate of unemployment which has reached 95 percent in some areas, which forces them to do hard work that does not suit their nature, such as working with civil defence teams or as street vendors at a time when kidnappings in return for ransoms, rape and other crimes are everywhere.

 

In the meantime, women complain of suspension of support supposed to be provided to them and their families by some international and humanitarian organisations which seem satisfied with issuing “poetic statements.”

 

The Syrian Observatory has been all along warning against forcing women in some areas controlled by radical movements not to be allowed to go out of their houses for work and only to take care of their children, as women in such radical and male-dominated societies are considered as “Awrah” (the intimate parts of the human body, which must, according to Islam, be covered by clothing), although Islamic principles honour women and preserve their rights .

 

As an international Syrian human rights organisation believing in the right of pluralism, diversity, and women’s right to being involved in all activities and decision-making processes, SOHR is seeking to fight all extremist ideologies which many parties have been attempting to promote and instil in the segments of the Syrian society since the beginning of the Syrian Revolution.

 

 

Forgotten childhood

 

Children have not been exempted from heinous violations and atrocities committed during the war, where they were robbed of their childhood, and many have been deprived from education in conflict zones where they have experienced panic, poverty and displacement to refugee camps. Many of the little boys and girls have found themselves responsible for whole families which lost their breadwinners and are forced to do hard work to earn money. While many others have been recruited by several military formations, despite frequent calls by international organisations not to exploit minors and young adults and turn them into spies, informants, thieves and “Shabiha” (regime loyalists who abuse power and conduct illegal actions for the benefit of the regime).

 

Violations of children’s rights are committed across the entire Syrian geography, amid “shameful” silence by the international community which seems satisfied with just issuing press releases and condemnation.

 

Such violations have motivated us, at the Syrian Observatory, to intensify our efforts to disclose all the policies and practices which led to devastation of a whole generation which should have been the cornerstone of a free, democratic, and tolerant society seeking to obtain peace and promote cooperation among all nations.

 

We reaffirm our intention to cooperate with human rights organisations in the region and any other part around the world to save this generation by keeping it away from diseases and psychological trauma emerging during the devastating war.

 

 

Noncompliance with international resolutions

 

Mishandling of the international resolutions reached after a series of meetings and conferences in several countries, particularly the Resolution No. 2254 which included several terms based on Geneva and Vienna Conventions regarding the Syrian crises, has worsened the situation in Syria further. At a time when the Resolution No. 2254 is considered a middle ground to political transition and a potential solution to the conflict in Syria, some of the warring parties, mainly the Syrian regime and its allies, have not liked this solution and refused so far to comply with the Resolution’s terms, without revealing any reasons, except for the terms stipulating for allowing the Syrian opposition to participate in the constitutional committee which was entrusted two years ago to draft a new constitution. The committee has failed so far to draft a new constitution, as the committee has faced many challenges which hindered its work, while each side keeps blaming the other for placing obstacles.

 

With the apparently endless war continuing to claim the lives of innocent people and sweep entire residential neighbourhoods, disregarding any international charters and agreements, Syrians are bemoaning the catastrophic situation which their beloved homeland reached and the vanishing of dreams of reaching democracy and equality, and they are angry and shocked at the international community’s “timid” efforts which have been confined to press releases and mere condemnation.

 

Amid all these sufferings and challenges, Syrian people are battered by a humanitarian crisis manifested in the non-delivery of humanitarian assistance sent by international actors to the needy, where “Shabiha,” mafias and war lords seize it and use the issue as a bargaining chip as a part of the policy of starving and repressing Syrian people. However, such practices have not been able to intimidate the Syrians who have been all along dreaming of democracy and freedom, after reaching a real political transition of power.

 

Since its foundation in 2006, years before the eruption of the Syrian Revolution, and as a part of its role of defending human rights and dignity and respecting all international charters relating to human’s dignity, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has been exerting all possible efforts to highlight the plight of all Syrian people and expose all heinous crimes committed against humanity at all levels, including the political, economic, and living situations.

 

SOHR remains committed to defending human rights despite all misinformation and smear campaigns against it for years.

 

Another year has passed, but there have been no signs yet of an imminent political settlement or a workable political solution which could potentially preserve the rights of Syrian people to live peacefully in their homeland and achieve democracy away from fruitless dialogues and conferences.

 

Believing in the promotion of humanitarian principles we, at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), appeal to the international community to intensify its efforts to find an immediate lasting peaceful solution to the Syrian conflict and put an end to the senseless bloodshed and suffering of millions of Syrians, and to implement all UN Security Council Resolutions, particularly the Resolution No. 2254 unanimously adopted on 18 December 2015 and called for a ceasefire and political settlement in Syria. In the meantime, we also call on the international community and all aid and humanitarian organisations to support the millions of Syrians, particularly those displaced living in makeshift camps, who are in a desperate need of tangible help. We would like to see humanitarian aid taken out of any political calculations and delivered to all Syrians across the country, regardless of who controls which part. Many people may lose their lives if aid is not provided as a matter of urgency.

 

As the world is in the midst of, and preoccupied with the Covid pandemic, we would also like to call on all human rights organisations across the world not to forget the people of Syria and the violations they have endured. We want to remind the world, in unison, that very little has changed in Syria, and exert pressure on the powers that be to put an end to the Syrian tragedy.

 

Finally, we reaffirm our obligation and commitment to continue defending human rights, the unity of and sovereignty of our country; and we express our complete rejection of all foreign interventions and interference in Syria.