International bodies demand answers from Syria over human rights violations

Almost a year after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, concerns persist over the lack of progress in investigations into missing persons. Organizations are also warning of arbitrary executions committed by the current government. 

Despite the social and political paradigm shifts that Syria has begun to undergo, international observers remain on high alert over human rights abuses. According to humanitarian organizations, the fall of the regime of former leader Bashar al-Assad has not yet been matched by the efforts needed to reverse the critical human rights situation the country is going through. While the actions of the new authorities have been highlighted in several respects, voices at the international level are calling for redoubled efforts.

This was the view of the United Nations, which recently issued a message warning of the constant alarms the international organization receives through complaints reporting killings, arbitrary detentions and persecution of populations for political reasons. The UN issued a warning to strengthen the human rights perspective, especially in the face of ongoing accusations of violence against sectors considered dissident.

As the first anniversary of al-Assad's overthrow approaches in January, after almost 25 years of rule in the midst of the country's civil war, the shrapnel of the violent political and human conflict continues to affect Syrian society. Although the fall of the regime raised expectations of a new transition under the current leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, demands have multiplied over the course of this first year.

The expectations of international observers included the demand for a complete break with the overthrown regime and the consequent reparation of the victims of the war crimes and human rights violations denounced for years. In March of last year, a series of institutional advances resulted in the creation of the National Commission for Missing Persons, which was meant to reflect a renewed commitment.

In mid-2025, Amnesty International (AI) issued a series of recommendations calling for policies of “truth and justice” to be prioritized for the many victims of abduction and disappearance perpetrated by the previous regime. But when associations of relatives of the disappeared were asked, they stated that they had not been consulted on the creation of the Commission. To date, as Amnesty has denounced, relatives of the disappeared still do not know the whereabouts of these people.

Although the UN acknowledged that the current government has launched investigative actions jointly with national and transnational bodies to look into the cases of disappearance, concern remains over the persistence of politically motivated violence. 

Deaths, torture and detentions

Over the course of the past year, multiple organizations have called for transparency and truth regarding the crimes committed in Syria. The Syrian Network for Human Rights maintains an online record of statistics and figures on the abuses committed from March 2011 to the middle of this year. In terms of arbitrary detentions, it is estimated that they have affected more than 180,000 people, of whom more than 14,000 have been women and children. As for deaths from acts of torture, the organization has recorded more than 40,000 people over the same period. In addition, the number of civilian deaths between 2011 and 2025 exceeds 230,000 people, with women and children accounting for about 50,000 cases. 

Current human rights violations

In addition to the investigations into war crimes committed over the last decade under the previous regime, attention is also focused on executions being carried out at present. In September of this year, Amnesty International released an investigation documenting arbitrary killings carried out by militia forces linked to the government. This concerns the situation that erupted in the Suwayda region, an area populated mainly by Druze communities. There, actions by government forces or forces close to the government have been reported, executing unarmed people in public spaces and even in homes. 

The events took place amid armed clashes between Druze and Bedouin groups in the region, where the government said it was “restoring” order with a military presence in mid-July of this year. In this context, AI documented the killing of more than 40 Druze people, men and women, in homes, schools and hospitals. The humanitarian organization sent its reports to the Syrian authorities to demand information and clarification about these actions. In August, the country's Defense Ministry reported that it had evidence of uniformed and armed “unknown groups” committing human rights abuses while pretending to be affiliated with the official security forces.

Guillermo Whpei

President of Fundación para la Democracia