SYRIA:
Put an End Now to Arbitrary Detentions and Enforced Disappearances!
Copenhagen,
Damascus, Paris, 5 May 2011. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network
(EMHRN), the Euro-Mediterranean Federation Against Enforced Disappearances
(FEMED) and the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies (DCHRS) are deeply
concerned by the indiscriminate repression characterised by the systematic use
by the Syrian government of arrests, arbitrary detentions and enforced
disappearances,[1] as the
protest movement continues to grow all across the country.
Security
forces are currently carrying out mass arrests of people who are suspected of
having taken part in the protests and are pursuing their crackdown against
bloggers, journalists, political activists, human rights activists and
physicians. Many
activists have gone into hiding, and the security forces have been arresting
relatives of wanted people when they are not at home, including women and
children.
In the
overwhelming majority of cases, no one knows, at the moment, where those who
have been arrested have been taken nor what accusations have been laid against
them. Numerous demonstrations held by family members testify to the
psychological impact of these disappearances on the relatives of the victims,
who are helpless because they are left in the dark about the whereabouts of
their loved ones and because of the possibility that they may be tortured.
According to Syrian human rights organisations, up to 500 people have been
arrested arbitrarily daily since the army and security forces have been
deployed in a number of cities and towns. In all, several thousand people are
believed to be detained.
Our
organisations are dismayed by the use of arbitrary detention and enforced
disappearance, which appears to be part of a deliberate and systematic strategy
by the Syrian government aimed at intimidating the people by terrorising them,
at blocking the dissemination of information, in particular videos showing the
uprising that were shown widely over the internet, and at preventing those who
are ill or injured from receiving the care they need.
Our
organisations remind Syria of its obligation to comply with the principles of
international law and Conventions which it has freely adhered to, including the
International Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, which states that “Everyone has the right to liberty and
security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention.
No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance
with such procedure as are established by law” (Article 9.1).
Our
organisations call upon:
The Syrian
authorities:
–
To put an immediate
stop to arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances
–
To release immediately
all persons who are arbitrarily detained, including all prisoners of opinion;
–
To guarantee the
physical and psychological integrity of the detainees by putting an end to the
practice of torture and ill treatment;
–
To sign and ratify the
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearances;
–
To cooperate fully with
the fact-finding mission established by the Human Rights Council’s 29 April
resolution, and in particular to give the mission access to all the locations
it wants to visit.
The Human
Rights Council of the United Nations:
–
To implement quickly the resolution S-16/1 adopted on April 19th
2011 by sending a fact-finding mission in Syria, and draw conclusions of this
mission by referring if necessary referral cases to the commission of crimes
against Humanity at the Security Council.
The Member
States of the European Union:
–
To freeze the assets of Syrian officials responsible of the
repression;
–
To establish a fully forbidding visa on the EU territory against responsible of
the repression
–
To order a comprehensive/exhaustive embargo on arms trading with Syria;
–
To summon Syria’s ambassadors in European capitals.
For more
information, please contact
EMHRN : Henriette Irminger Sonne, +45 30828337 ; Shaima
Abou Alkheir: +20 101077207
FEMED : Nassera Dutour, president : + 213 7 74
55 18 82
DCHRS : Radwane Ziadeh, director : + 001 571 205
3590
Background
information
Since 25th
April, the army, the security forces and the regime’s auxiliary militias (Chabbiha)
have successively occupied several cities where large protests have taken
place. After
surrounding the city of Deraa, the security forces deployed in a large number
of cities such as Banyas and Homs, as well as in suburbs of Damascus (Douma,
Harasta, etc.), where they conducted home invasions and numerous arbitrary
arrests.
It is
difficult to determine how many people have been arrested. The Syrian Human
Rights Information Link (SHRIL)
has drawn up a list of 1800 names of people who have been arbitrarily detained,
but the total number is much higher.[2]
According to DCHRS, more than 4000 people have been detained in all.
In Harasta,
the security forces on 24 April arrested a 14-year old child and the three
brothers of a person they were seeking/looking for. Two days later, in the town
of Tal, a 21-year old man was also arrested although the security forces were
after his father. There
have also been reports of detention of wives, mothers and daughters of wanted
men. These are not isolated cases but common/emblematic practice among security
forces.
Many
demonstrations held by family members concerned about the fate of their
relatives have taken place in a number of Syrian governorates, as well as in
the Banyas region, following the arrest of virtually all males in the village
of Bayda on 12 April, and on Arnous Square in Damascus, where dozens of women
have met several times since 1 May near the Parliament building to demand the
release of their loved ones.
The Syrian
government has always refused to throw light on the massive enforced
disappearances that occurred during the 1980s, when hundreds of real or assumed
members of the Muslim Brotherhood disappeared after being arrested by the State
security services.[3]