Concluding observations of the UN Committee against Torture SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC

Committee against Torture
Forty-fourth session
26 April – 14 May 2010
Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the convention
ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION
Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture

SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
1. The Committee against Torture considered the initial report of Syrian Arab Republic (CAT/C/SYR/1) at its 937th and 939th meetings (CAT/C/SR.937 and 939), held on 3 and 4 May 2010, and adopted, at its 951st meeting (CAT/C/SR.951), the following concluding observations.

A. Introduction
2. The Committee welcomes the submission of the initial report of Syria, which, while generally following the Committee’s guidelines for reporting, lacks statistical and practical information on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention and relevant domestic legislation. However, the Committee regrets that the report was submitted 5 years late which prevented the Committee from conducting an analysis of the implementation of the Convention in the State party following its ratification in 2004. Read more

More disappearances of Kurds in Syria – 8 November 2009

Nashat Mustafa Hanan,  a 45 year old Kurd from Aleppo in Syria who works in the defence industry for the Syrian Government, has been subjected to harassment and was called into many interviews from the time of last year’s Newroz festival in March 2008. Newroz is celebrated around 21 March every year.  It is the Kurdish New Year,  a festival time when Kurds remember their history,  and celebrate their Kurdyeti (Kurdishness) by holding parties in large tents and dancing on the stage.  In Syria, the Government threatens Kurdish political parties at this time that their supporters should stay at home, suddenly there are no tents for hire, the stages that have been erected are bulldozed, and many people are arrested. There is clear Government interference in the festival. Read more

Hunger strike amongst Kurdish political prisoners in Syria

Kurdish political prisoners in Adra Prison and Sednaya Military Prison, Damascus, Syria are suffering degrading conditions similar to those that were suffered by prisoners in the Middle Ages. Dozens of young Kurds lie behind high walls and inside dark corridors, hidden in isolation from the outside world, with minimum medical services.  These are political prisoners, supporters of the Democratic Union Party, the PKK and PYD, and Sittar – a women’s organization.  They stay in individual cells deprived of contact with each other and with their families, subjected to various types of psychological and physical torture.

Syrian Human Rights Committee – MAD, has received information that some of these prisoners started an open-ended hunger strike on 30 October 2009 against the harsh conditions and unfair judgments of the Supreme State Security Court.

Read more

Kurds in Syria sentenced for between five years and life imprisonment for political activity – November 2009.

The Supreme State Security Court in Damascus sentenced five political activists to between seven and a half years and twelve years in prison, on 3 November 2009, according to reports from Syrian Human Rights Committee – MAD.

The following people were accused of the offence of membership of a banned political organisation – the Democratic Union Party [PYD] – and attempting to annex part of Syrian territory and append it to a foreign State, in accordance with Article 267 of the Penal Code of Syria:

• Shukri Khaled Omar, born 1988, who was arrested on 19 December 2006 was sentenced to five years.
  • He was also accused of carrying out acts intended to provoke civil war in accordance with Article 298, and was sentenced to hard labour for life.  The sentences are to run concurrently.  The life sentence was reduced to twelve years with hard labour due to mitigating circumstances.  Read more

Three Kurdish citizens arrested and ‘disappeared’ from the city of Manbej, Syria

According to the Syria Committee for Human Rights (MAD),  three Kurdish citizens in the city of Manbej in Syria were arrested by Political Security on Friday, 4 September 2009.

These people are:

Mahmoud Subhi Shekho born 1973 – Kobani town
Mahmoud Ahmed Khashman born 1961 Kobani town
Mustafa Ibrahim Ali – Kobani town

The reason for their arrest, and their whereabouts are still unknown seven weeks later.

It is known that Political Security forces have arrested many Kurds in recent years, in contravention of the Constitution of Syria.  The State of Emergency is being used to justify arbitrary arrests and indefinite detention.

International Support for Kurds in Syria Association – SKS stands together with those who are calling for these people to be either charged or released, and for the State of Emergency to be lifted.

International Support for Kurds in Syria Association – SKS

26 October 2009

Further detention of Kurds in Syria – 23 October 2009

On 5 October 2009  a young Kurdish man, Kefkhesh Yassin Adnan, was sentenced to three months in prison and a fine of 100 Syrian pounds for inciting sectarianism – because he was wearing a necklace ‘suspected of being similar to the Kurdish flag’,  according to Kurdish Committee for Human Rights – al-Rasd/Monitor at http://kurdchr.com

Bahjat Mohammed Ali Baki,  a man in his fifties who was married in Amouda town was arrested by Political Security on 20 October 2009. He has been called in several times this year to talk with Political Security according to his family.

Manal Ibrahim Ibrahim, born in Qamishli in 1981 was arrested on 15 October 2009 by Political Security forces.  She has been active in the women’s movement Setar. Read more

Syria Drought Response Plan 2009

Syria has been affected by drought since 2006.  While the 2007-2008 drought was very severe and had a wider geographical reach, the current drought has again affected a population that was already suffering from the impacts of previous drought spells.  According to the Government of Syria and UN assessment missions[1], some 1.3 million inhabitants of eastern Syria have been affected by this disaster, out of which 803,000 have lost almost all of their livelihoods and face extreme hardship.  According to the UN Needs Assessment Mission, up to 80% of those severely affected live on a diet consisting of bread and sugared tea, which only covers on average some 50% of both caloric and protein requirements.  These families are not able to sustain or restore their livelihood without emergency support including food aid, farming inputs, and animal feeds, supplemented by other types of assistance.

One of the most visible effects of the drought is a dramatic increase in the already substantial migration out of the affected areas during the last year, due to loss of livelihoods and lack of income to buy food.  Migration figures range from 40,000 – 60,000 families.  36,000 families have reportedly migrated from Hassakeh Governorate alone. This dramatic move often does not save the families from destitution: even in the areas where they have temporarily settled, migrants still face hardship and poverty.  Communities inhabiting the drought-affected areas suffer from an acute shortage of water as many wells and rivers have dried up.  Poor nutrition, heat, and dust storms have a detrimental effect on their health status.  Very high levels of school drop-outs have been registered in the area, as children have migrated with their families or are required to contribute to the family income by working. Read more