Corporate report

Syria – Human Rights Priority Country

Updated 8 February 2017

This was published under the 2015 to 2016 Cameron Conservative government

Syria

In 2015, the human rights situation in Syria continued to deteriorate as conflict intensified. The Asad regime continued to commit human rights violations on a large scale, persistently violated international humanitarian law (IHL), and failed to comply with numerous UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions. Regime forces continued to arbitrarily arrest, disappear, and torture detainees, many of whom have died in detention.

The Asad regime and its allies (including Russia) carried out indiscriminate attacks that directly targeted civilians, including bombardment of civilian residential areas, schools, market areas and medical facilities, with barrel bombs, artillery, aerial attacks and mortars, resulting in mass civilian casualties. Lengthy sieges, mainly by regime forces, led to severe malnutrition and even starvation. The UK believes that both the Asad regime and Daesh have used chemical weapons in Syria. Daesh has been responsible for systematic and widespread violations of IHL, including targeting civilians. IHL violations were also carried out by al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, and some other extremist groups. This violence and instability continued to force people from their homes and increased the numbers of internally displaced persons and those fleeing the country as refugees.

Ultimately, the terrible human rights situation in Syria will only be addressed through a political settlement that ends the conflict. Through its role in the UNSC and the International Syria Support Group, the UK is supporting a peace process which aims to end the violence and achieve political transition away from Asad. UNSC Resolution 2254, adopted 18 December 2015, calls for ceasefire planning and an immediate end to attacks against civilians. The UK has been at the forefront of promoting the participation of minority groups, and especially women, in the peace process. We support progress that has subsequently been made on the political track, including the start of intra-Syrian peace talks, cessation of hostilities, and some improvements in humanitarian access.

The UK led the adoption of three resolutions on the human rights situation in Syria at the UN Human Rights Council during 2015 and co-sponsored the UN General Assembly Third Committee Resolution on the human rights situation in Syria, which was also successfully adopted. We support the UN Commission of Inquiry’s investigations into human rights violations and abuses in Syria.

More widely, the UK continued to play a leading role in addressing the humanitarian situation in Syria. We have now pledged a total of £2.3 billion in humanitarian assistance to support Syrian refugees up to 2020. This is our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.

The UK supported a range of projects focused on human rights and accountability amounting to £10.3 million as at the end of 2015. These programmes included the provision of capacity building for Syrian human rights activists to gather evidence of violations of international criminal and humanitarian law. This evidence is intended for use in future international and/ or Syrian-led criminal and accountability processes. We also provided IHL and Law of Armed Conflict training, and supported women’s empowerment in policing, civil defence, and local councils inside Syria. In addition, we are working to improve local capacity to document sexual violence in order to strengthen future justice mechanisms and reconciliation processes. We will continue this programme of work in 2016.