RISK LEVEL: CURRENT CRISIS
Syria
MARCH 2022 | POPULATION AT RISK
Populations in Syria face continued risk of climate-related harm, especially from drought. Constitution making processes currently underway present an immediate opportunity to mainstream climate action in governance structures and future policy making.
BACKGROUND
Climate change discussion…
Since the armed conflict between the government and opposition groups in Syria began in 2011 at least 580,000 people have been killed. The UN Human Rights Council-mandated Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Syria has reported more than 130,000 arbitrary detentions, abductions or disappearances since 2011, with the majority attributable to the Syrian government. Nearly 13 million people have been displaced – the largest number displaced by any conflict in the world – including 6.7 million Syrian refugees. An estimated 13.4 million Syrians remain in need of humanitarian assistance (GR2P).
While various parties to the conflict continue to perpetrate serious violations and abuses of international law, over the last two years the conflict has shifted away from large-scale military hostilities along major frontlines to localized clashes between armed groups and government forces (GR2P).
In southern Syria, particularly in Dara’a governorate, clashes have been ongoing since July 2021 between government forces and armed opposition groups. A ceasefire was reached on 1 September, but quickly unraveled as Syrian government forces continued to launch raids, airstrikes and missile attacks. Violent clashes resulted in dozens of civilian deaths in January 2022 alone. The government has also besieged towns and imposed heavy restrictions on civilians attempting to flee and on the delivery of humanitarian aid. More than 35,000 civilians have been displaced since late July. Government forces also continue to commit murder, torture and sexual violence as a matter of state policy. The CoI recorded over 130 targeted killings of medical workers, former judges and “reconciliation leaders” between July 2020 and April 2021 (GR2P).
Despite a ceasefire in northwest Syria brokered in March 2020 between Russia and Turkey, hostilities and violations have continued in Idlib governorate. Ground fighting, shelling and airstrikes – perpetrated by forces loyal to the Syrian government – have damaged medical facilities, markets, schools and displacement camps. According to the CoI, the attacks have caused dozens of civilian deaths and greatly reduced access to food, water, healthcare and adequate housing. The armed extremist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham also continues to perpetrate abuses, including arbitrarily detaining activists and journalists. In northwest Syria, approximately 3.4 million people are in need of humanitarian aid and 2.7 million are internally displaced (GR2P).
Elsewhere in northern Syria, the Syrian National Army and other Turkish-backed armed groups have perpetrated torture, sexual violence, systematic looting and arbitrary detention. Improvised explosive devices are frequently detonated in crowded areas and have killed and wounded hundreds of civilians over the past year. Meanwhile, indiscriminate shelling and government airstrikes have hit civilian objects and caused dozens of casualties in recent months (GR2P).
The UN Secretary-General’s report on children and armed conflict confirmed more than 4,724 grave violations across Syria in 2020, including killing, maiming and the recruitment and use of children in hostilities. Additionally, at least 40,000 children of alleged so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters from 57 countries remain trapped in squalid detention camps run by the Kurdish-backed Syrian Defense Forces (GR2P).
The government is also imposing arbitrary restrictions on freedom of movement and depriving individuals of their property in areas previously held by the opposition, which the CoI alleges may amount to the war crime of collective punishment. Government forces have reportedly subjected civilians returning to Syria after fleeing abroad to arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and torture (GR2P).
JUMP TOOL: UK, US, EU, UN
United Kingdom | CiR2P Options
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United States | CiR2P Options
CiR2P Option 44 | Economic recovery and development
18 November 2021, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced a major renewable energy investment plan in Syria. This influx of low pollution investments to help rebuild the country’s shattered infrastructure and economy is part of a larger push within the region to normalise relations with the Assad regime. A telephone call last month between Assad and Jordan’s King Abdullah II marked the highest-level contact between Syria and a U.S.-allied Arab country in years. Egypt did not completely break relations. And the possibility remains that Syria will be readmitted to the Arab League. Russia and China supportive of Assad regime.
Qatar, Saudi, Israel remain unprepared to not normalize relations, nor will the US. “We will not normalize or upgrade our diplomatic relations with the Assad regime, nor do we support other countries normalizing or upgrading their relations, given the atrocities that this regime has inflicted on its own people,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. US sanctions are designed to prevent any investment that might benefit Assad or his regime, and have stymied Syria’s economic recovery and physical rebuilding. U.S. officials say the Biden administration is not softening its enforcement of the sanctions.
Apart from sanctions, potential investors in Syria are deterred by the business climate, the dire state of the economy and the potential for instability. Chronic shortages of electricity and fuel and the lack of a functioning banking system make the country an unappealing investment destination.
All future US investment programs in Syria across energy, heavy industry, transport, urban environments, and agriculture, when and if it occurs, should be developed through a climate lens. For example, consideration could be given to on-and-off grid solar projects, hydrogen projects, low pollution transport networks, the use of green steel and cement as it become available, and technology transfer to help drought proof Syria agricultural sector.
European Union | CiR2P Options
CiR2P Option 26 and 27 | Apply political and economic sanctions
16 November 2021, the European Union imposed sanctions on four ministers recently appointed to the Syrian government. Asset freezes and travel bans in Europe were imposed on the four, who include the ministers for internal trade, information and labor. The four ministers were accused of sharing “responsibility for the Syrian regime’s violent repression of the civilian population,” the EU said. The new sanctions bring the number of people in Syria targeted by EU measures to 287. A further 70 “entities,” including organizations, banks and companies, are also on the blacklist, typically for benefiting from their ties with the regime. The EU first started imposing the sanctions in 2011. The measures also include a ban on oil imports, investment restrictions, a freeze on central bank assets held in the EU, and export limits on equipment and technology that could be used to crack down on civilians or monitoring their phones and Internet.
Discussion on climate related political and economic sanctions
CiR2P Option 45 | Social programs for a sustainable peace
29 October 2021, Finland contributed EUR€ 3 million building on its previous support to UNICEF’s No Lost Generation initiative in Syria. The funding will strengthen the access of more than 3,800 girls and boys to a safe learning environment through school rehabilitation and help those out of school or at risk of dropping out to resume their learning via supportive learning programmes. Since 2017, the Government of Finland has provided EUR€ 5.5 million of funding to support children and families in Syria through UNICEF’s interventions.
Climate change discussion
United Nations | CiR2P Options
CiR2P Option 10 | Develop constitutional structures
23 October 2021, Geir O. Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria, acknowledged that Syria’s constitution making process was a ‘big disappointment’ and is seeking ideas on pathways forward.
Climate change and environmental protection should me included in Syria’s constitutional reforms. Kenya’s constitution making process in 2008 is considered the gold standard, and has produced continent leading climate action (adaptation and mitigation) strategies and policies since.