At least 441 Cases of Arbitrary Arrests Documented in Syria in September 2019

ARK News: SNHR announced in its report released today that it documented at least 441 cases of arbitrary arrests in September 2019, including 276 cases of enforced disappearance.

This latest report documents 4,059 cases of arbitrary arrests since the start of 2019 and outlines the record of arbitrary arrests in September. The report records at least 441 cases of arbitrary arrests in September 2019, including 26 children and 12 women (adult female), at the hands of the main perpetrator parties to the conflict in Syria, with 197 of these carried out at the hands of Syrian Regime forces, including four children and one woman. In addition, 29 cases of arbitrary arrests, including three children, were recorded at the hands of Hay’at Tahrir al Sham.

The report documents 183 cases of arbitrary arrests at the hands of Syrian Democratic Forces, including 17 children and nine women. It also documents 32 cases of arbitrary arrests at the hands of factions of the Armed opposition, including two children and two women.

The report also shows the distribution of cases of arbitrary arrests by governorate, with Aleppo seeing the largest number of arrests documented during this period.

In addition, the report states that at least 173 raids and checkpoints across all Syrian governorates resulted in cases of deprivation of freedom being documented in September, most of which were in the governorates of Aleppo, with Syrian Regime forces, followed by Syrian Democratic Forces, being responsible for most of the raids.

The report calls on the Security Council to follow through on the implementation of Resolution 2042, adopted on April 14, 2012, Resolution 2043, adopted on April 21, 2012, and Resolution 2139, adopted on February 22, 2014, all of which demand the immediate cessation of the crime of enforced disappearance.

Lastly, the report emphasizes that children and women should be released, and families and friends should not be taken as prisoners of war. The report calls on the official newly appointed to take charge of the detainees’ file at the UN special envoy’s office to include the issue of detainees at the upcoming rounds of Geneva talks, as this issue is of far greater importance to the Syrian people than other longer-term issues that can be jointly addressed later, such as the constitution.

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