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“Bring Me Back to Canada”

  Summary “Please, bring me back to Canada. … Please, forgive me. Let me be who I am, a Canadian.” —Kimberly Polman, Canadian detained in camp for ISIS family members in Northeast Syria More than one year ago, in March 2019, local…
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Canada: Bring Home ISIS Suspects and Relatives from Syria

Inadequate Steps to Assist 47 Canadians in Dire Conditions

Canada is failing to take adequate steps to assist and repatriate dozens of Canadians unlawfully detained in dire conditions for alleged Islamic State (also known as ISIS) links in northeast Syria, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.…
A girl stands in front of a chainlink fence
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Syria: Protesters Describe Beatings, Arrests

Syrians Returned to Streets Over Economic Meltdown

(Beirut) – Syrian security forces responded to a protest in the city of Sweida on June 15 by beating and arresting protesters demonstrating against the government’s failure to address the country’s economic meltdown, Human Rights Watch said today. The…
People hold up banners at a protest in Sweida on June 9, 2020
Report

“I Want to Continue to Study”

Summary As the Syria conflict continues into its tenth year, Syrian refugee children in Jordan are confronting obstacles to education that grow more acute as they progress into secondary education. Every child has the right to a quality primary and…
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South Africa should help keep aid flowing to desperate Syrians

South Africa will soon have a chance to use its UN Security Council seat to show that when it comes to Syria, it is fulfilling Nelson Mandela’s hope that “human rights will be the light that guides our foreign policy.” Sadly, South Africa’s voting…
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France Repatriates More Children from Northeast Syria

Government Should Bring Home All Children and their Mothers from ISIS Camps

The French government this week announced it had returned 10 children from camps for families of Islamic State (ISIS) suspects in Northeast Syria. The children were reportedly handed over to officials from the French foreign ministry who traveled to…
A girl stands in front of a chainlink fence
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UN Security Council Should Reauthorize Cross-Border Aid to Syria

Russia Should Support Medical Aid via Syria-Iraq Border to Prevent Covid-19 Spread

The UN Security Council – including Russia – needs to act quickly to reauthorize medical aid deliveries from Iraq to Syria’s northeast to prevent further spread of Covid-19 that could devastate the region.    The council needs to move…
A medic checks the temperature of a man inside a health isolation centre which has been established on the Syrian-Turkish borders in order to place people coming from Turkey to Idlib as a preventive measure against the spread of COVID-19.
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Syria: ISIS Dumped Bodies in Gorge

Mass Graves Hold Thousands, Investigations Needed

(Beirut) – The Islamic State (also known as ISIS) used a gorge in northeast Syria as a dumping ground for the bodies of people it had abducted or detained, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. A Human Rights Watch investigation and…
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WHO Should Stand By Appeal for Cross-Border Aid to Syria

More Aid is Essential to Fight Covid-19 in War-Torn Areas

To help prevent a catastrophic outbreak of Covid-19 in Syria, the World Health Organization (WHO) should stand firm in urging the United Nations Security Council to ensure medical and other humanitarian aid can be delivered to Syria over an Iraq…
Medical workers oversee the disinfection of streets to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Qamishli, Syria, March 24, 2020.
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Syria: Aid Restrictions Hinder Covid-19 Response

UN Should Reauthorize Assistance from Iraq; Damascus Should Allow Passage

(Beirut) – Restrictions on aid deliveries from Damascus and Iraq are preventing medical supplies and personnel needed to prevent, contain, and treat Covid-19 from reaching two million people in northeast Syria, Human Rights Watch said today. On…
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Waiting in the Ruins of Idlib for Covid-19

Civilians Need to be Protected as Coronavirus Cases Spread in Syria

After almost a decade of conflict, and with new cases of Covid-19 recorded across the country, at least four million people, a quarter of whom are displaced in camps, await the next disaster in northwest Syria. While much of the world was…
A surgical operation room is damaged after an airstrike hit a hospital in the town of Ariha, in Idlib province, Syria, January 30, 2020.
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Germany: Syria Torture Trial Opens

Universal Jurisdiction Provides Opening for Justice

  (Berlin) – The start of a landmark trial in Germany of two people alleged to be former Syrian intelligence officials on crimes against humanity charges is an important chance for victims to see justice done, Human Rights Watch said today.…
Illustration © 2017 Brian Stauffer for Human Rights Watch
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France: Urgently Repatriate Sick Child from Northeast Syria

Bring Home Other French Children Trapped There

(Toulouse) – Human Rights Watch and nine other organizations issued the following statement on April 21, 2020: We, the undersigned civil society organizations have learned of the alarming situation of young Taymia, a 7-year-old child of…
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Syria: Focus New Working Group’s Efforts on ISIS Kidnappings

Local Authorities, US-led Coalition Should Provide Full Support

    (Beirut) – A new working group to help find the thousands of detained and missing people in northeast Syria is an essential first step toward accountability for what happened to them, Human Rights Watch…
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The UN’s Timid Responses to War Crimes Against Children

State Perpetrators in Syria, Yemen Go Unnamed

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons concluded in an April 8 report that Syria’s air force had carried out three chemical weapons attacks against its own people, including children, on the orders of senior military…
Children attending class on the first day of school, which was damaged by an airstrike during fighting between Saudi-led coalition-backed government forces and Houthi forces, Taizz, Yemen, September 3, 2019.
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Turkey/Syria: Weaponizing Water in Global Pandemic?

COVID-19 Protections Rely on Adequate Supply

(Beirut) – Turkish authorities’ failure to ensure adequate water supplies to Kurdish-held areas in Northeast Syria is compromising humanitarian agencies’ ability to prepare and protect vulnerable communities in the COVID-19 pandemic, Human Rights…
A displaced Syrian girl fills water from a cistern at a camp for Syrian displaced people near the Syrian-Turkish border in the Northern countryside of Idlib.
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Syria’s Detainees Left Even More Vulnerable to Coronavirus

Urgent Need to Access Detention Facilities

As countries around the world struggle to contain the Coronavirus pandemic, one cannot help but consider the ramifications of the virus for the most vulnerable among us; those detained and displaced. In Syria, where there are huge numbers of both…