📰 Violations persist across Syria one year after Assad’s fall – OHCHR

QAMISHLI, aleppo-internal-security-evacuate-civilians-and-ensure-their-safety-after-sdf-attacks/" class="smart-internal-link" title="📰 Aleppo Internal Security evacuate civilians and ensure their safety after SDF attacks">internal-link">syria (North Press) – The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned on Friday that severe human rights violations continue across Syria nearly one year after the fall of the former Assad regime, urging the transitional authorities to take stronger, more systematic measures to ensure accountability and protect civilians. Speaking at a press briefing, OHCHR representative Thameen al-Kheetan stated that while the transitional administration has launched multiple promising initiatives, “these steps are only the beginning of what needs to be done. ” Al-Kheetan added that the authorities have established national commissions on transitional justice and missing persons, formed investigative bodies into hostilities in the coastal region and in Suwayda, and released a draft law on transitional justice. Trials have also begun for suspects involved in the coastal-area attacks. “Encouraging as these developments are, they fall short of addressing the scale and complexity of ongoing abuses,” he stated.

OHCHR continues to document reports of summary executions, arbitrary killings and abductions, with hundreds killed since the regime’s collapse. Violations have been attributed to security troops under the transitional authorities, armed groups linked to them, remnants of the former administration, local factions and unidentified individuals. Communities including Alawites, Druze, Christians and Bedouins have been disproportionately affected, amid a surge in hate speech both online and on the streets.

The past year has also seen persisted Israeli armed forces operations inside Syria, including incursions and territorial occupation, leading to civilian casualties and arrests, al-Kheetan noted.   OHCHR stressed that integrating former armed groups into the country’s emerging security troops without proper vetting risks embedding perpetrators of past violations into state structures. Notably, high Commissioner Volker Türk urged authorities to “address the root causes” of abuses, ensure independent investigations and guarantee justice and reparations for victims. By Jwan Shekaki