Aline Sara

Syrian dissidents are bracing themselves for government retribution as the Assad regime has vowed to respond with force to protests. The clampdown comes as a reaction to an alleged attack on police officers, which, according to the Syrian regime, left 120 security personnel dead in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughur and which the government blamed on armed thugs.

As violence in Syria escalates, the international community continues to express both worry and outrage at what just last week Human Rights Watch suggested were crimes against humanity in a report.
The report, titled “We’ve Never Seen Such Horror: Crimes against Humanity by Syrian Security Forces,” focused on the governate of Daraa, where the anti-regime protests started and in which more than 400 people have died in the past two months. HRW researches conducted over 50 interviews with victims and eyewitnesses.
HRW reported the systematic killing of protesters and bystanders during the numerous demonstrations in the southern governate since the uprising began in mid-March.

The rights watchdog also documented the denial of medical assistance, alongside countless arrests and tortures, in which victims were reported to have been subjected to electric shocks, beaten with sticks and wires, and humiliated. During the April 29 siege on Daraa, HRW said, regime loyalists are said to have committed executions and thrown victims in mass graves. HRW did, however, highlight the difficulty in accessing information.
“We have been working on Syria for years,” explained Nadim Houry, director of HRW’s Beirut office, in an interview with NOW Lebanon, noting that by now, the rights group is used to dealing with information blockades in the country. “There are a number of people in Syria that we trust and with whom we’ve collaborated before, but we’ve also had to expand our network,” Houry said. A number of interviews were done in person, he noted, with others being done over Skype. HRW also studied cellphone videos taken by witnesses.

Researchers worked mostly from neighboring countries and made an active effort to corroborate all data. “As much as you can, you focus on showing patterns that emerge as you asses the quality of the evidence,” Houry said.  “One person can exaggerate, but 50 people aren’t going to exaggerate the same way. This is the key.”
Houry expressed satisfaction with reactions to the report. “It has had an impact, first in terms of the media reports, secondly, in the way it sort of prompted a number of editorials, some particularly strong [such as that in the] Washington Post,” he said. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton also mentioned it while criticizing the lack of international unity over Syria on Thursday.

“[The intention of the report’s] timing was to push for more action from the United Nations Security Council – particularly for an international investigation,” Houry said, stressing the “uphill struggle” caused by Russia and China, who are threatening to use their veto power as the EU pushes for sanctions against the Assad regime.
 
In such a situation, “It is very important to know the facts, and this is where we have our added value,” said Houry. “There is a war of narratives – namely Russia and China buying into the Syrian government accusing protesters of [being] armed terrorists,” he said.

As expected, Damascus has not reacted to the HRW report and frequently accuses the organization of being a Zionist group, according to Houry.  He stressed that research on Syria is unrelated to Lebanon and is not specific to the Beirut office’s operations.
 
 “We don’t take sides, and we are not in the business of regime change,” he said. “This has nothing to do with the dynamics between Lebanon and Syria. It is an international organization with offices across the region.”
“We are apolitical and are working as a global advocacy movement at a time of crisis,” he added.

Unlike local issues, such as abuse of migrant domestic workers and torture in Lebanon, the scope of HRW’s investigation on Syria is transnational, with research also being done in the watchdog’s offices in Europe, the US, Turkey and Russia. “I even have colleagues working from South Africa,” a country that is currently a non-permanent member of the Security Council. “We’ve translated our summary report in Russian, have a press release in Russian and Turkish,” he said of major players who have close ties with Syria.
 
Ultimately, the importance of the report lies at the level of international policy making, he said. “We’re a global advocacy organization.”