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SYR - News
Syria: Alkarama’s report denounces gross violations of humanitarian law and human rights
On 24 March 2016, Alkarama submitted its report on Syria's human rights record to the Human Rights Council (HRC) in view of the country's second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) – an interactive discussion between the State under review and other UN Member States on its human rights record –, which will take place next October 2016. Since Syria’s last UPR in 2011, the country plunged into a ravaging civil war, that resulted in violations of the most fundamental principles of humanity enshrined in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law. Alkarama’s report raised the following key issues.
Syria: Shamel Najjar and his brother Tamer disappeared since their arrest during an army raid in 2012
During an arrest raid that took place on 14 May 2012, Syrian army officers abducted 29-year-old Shamel Najjar and his brother, 31-year old carpenter Tamer, taking both to an unknown location and later refusing to recognise their arrest and detention. Concerned over their fates, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians sent their case to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), in the hope that it will help shed light on their whereabouts.
Syria: 4 more cases of men disappeared following their arrest at checkpoints
Over the last weeks, Alkarama received the testimonies of relatives of four men who disappeared following their arrests at various checkpoints in Syria between July 2012 and May 2015. All the arrests were conducted by members of the Security Services or the Military, who did not present a warrant nor inform the victims of the reasons of their arrest. The four men remain disappeared since. Consequently, on 2 March 2016, Alkarama sent their cases to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), in the hope that this can help shed light on their fates and whereabouts.
Syria: Three More Cases of Enforced Disappearances
Between 12 and 19 January 2016, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians documented three cases of enforced disappearances that occurred in Syria between November 2011 and October 2013. 34-year-old carpenter Ghassan Taibani disappeared after his arrest in Homs by members of the Air Force Intelligence in November 2011, while 40-year-old trader Mahmoud Al Rahal and 41-year-old agricultural engineer Ghiath Al Razouq both disappeared after their respective arrest in the Hama governorate by the Military Security in February and October 2013. In view of these facts, Alkarama submitted their cases to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary disappearances (WGEID), hoping that this UN mechanism for the protection of human rights will help shed light on the men's fates and whereabouts.
Syria: Student Disappears after Prison Transfer by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG)
In March 2015, Ammar Al Hasan, a 20-year-old student detained in Al Malikiyah prison – one of the central Kurdish prisons in north-eastern Syria – was transferred to an unknown detention centre and subsequently disappeared. The Kurdish authorities have refused to provide any information about his whereabouts, and his family was never informed of the location he was brought to. His relatives therefore turned to Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians, who referred Al Hasan's case to the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (CoI Syria) on 23 December 2015.
