Syria: UN report on torture, new independent body to clarify fate and whereabouts of missing persons

A report released on July 10 by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, titled “No End in Sight: Torture and Ill-treatment in the Syrian Arab Republic 2020-2023”, documents human rights violations in Syrian detention facilities.

The documented violations included torture, ill-treatment, and enforced disappearance between the beginning of 2020 and April 30, 2023. The report was based on preliminary interviews conducted by the commission with 254 people, including 200 people who were subjected to and/or witnessed direct physical violations. The commission also conducted other interviews with individuals working with survivors, such as doctors and family members. This was in addition to analyzing materials related to the practice of violations, including visual resources and related documents, according to ReliefWeb.

Victims' testimonies included various types of torture, including hanging from one or both sides for long periods of time, being folded into car tires, electric shocks, burning parts of the body, sexual violence, and severe beatings all over the body, including the genitals. The report also documented the inhumane conditions of prisons, such as severe lack of food and water, poor sanitation, the spread of diseases, and denial of medical care, which caused many deaths inside cells.

The detainees are held in very bad conditions, as they are placed in overcrowded cells, the size of which sometimes reaches 20 square meters, in which 60 to 70 people are held for months, or in solitary cells, the dimensions of which do not exceed two meters, in which several people are held, such that some sleep while others wait their turn, leaning on each other because they cannot lay down in the cell. As for food, it usually consisted of crusty bread, half an egg, or a piece of tomato, served once a day, according to Human Rights Watch.

Syria witnessed political turmoil following its popular uprising in 2011. However, it quickly degenerated into an all-out civil war between the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad and the armed opposition forces, along with Islamist groups and extremist organizations, in addition to regional and international parties.

Since the start of anti-government protests in March 2011, the Syrian authorities have subjected tens of thousands of people to arbitrary arrest, unlawful detention, forced disappearance, ill-treatment, and torture in torture centers scattered across Syria.

The report also documented violations by three armed groups, namely Hayat Tahrir al-Sham  (Organization for the Liberation of the Levant or Levant Liberation Committee), the Syrian National Army, and the Syrian Democratic Forces. All of them are non-state organizations that control territory and hold detainees in their own prisons.

It is worth noting that the report was issued as a conference room paper for the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council, which was held in Geneva from June 19 to July 14.

Last June, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of establishing an independent institution to clarify the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons in Syria.

“Finally, the families and their supporters will be aided by an international body that can help clarify both the scale of the problem and the whereabouts of tens of thousands missing loved ones,” said Commissioner Hanny Megally, member of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.