One month after the Pylos shipwreck, only 25 of 82 bodies recovered from the sea have been identified—a challenging process that requires DNA samples to be collected across multiple countries. In Syria, authorities have still not authorized DNA collection from relatives of the missing.
Civil society groups and humanitarian workers documented a rise in cases of sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and domestic violence in shelters following the February 6 earthquake that killed and displaced tens of thousands in Turkey and Syria. Did the emergency response include enough protections for women and girls?
Around 150 Syrians were among the estimated 750 people on board the vessel that capsized near Pylos last Wednesday. Only 104 people survived, including between 30 and 40 Syrians. Survivors held Greek coast guards responsible for the shipwreck and delayed rescue efforts.
The Netherlands and Canada are taking Syria to the top UN court for the systemic use of torture, while a General Assembly vote is expected this month on the establishment of a mechanism to clarify the fate of Syria’s disappeared.
After opposition leader Kılıçdaroğlu vowed to deport all Syrian refugees from Turkey, Erdoğan’s win in Sunday elections brought Syrian refugees a partial sense of safety—tarnished by spiking anti-refugee sentiment in Turkey and the continued threat of deportation.
The images of Bashar al-Assad’s return to the Arab League summit on May 19 sent chills running through displaced Syrians in exile.
Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu will vie for the Turkish presidency in a runoff election on May 28th. Were Kılıçdaroğlu to win, Ankara’s policy on Syrian refugee return, normalization with Bashar al-Assad and Turkey’s policy in northern Syria could undergo major shifts.
A wave of swift door-to-border deportations is terrorizing Syrians in Lebanon, with more than 1,100 refugees arrested and 600 deported in April.
Four of the five Lebanese State Security officers indicted last November for the torture death of Syrian refugee Bashar Abdul Saud were released on bail this month, one of whom is back at work, while the victim’s family and lawyer have been pressured to drop their complaint.
From the landmark Koblenz trial in Germany to the latest indictment of three high-ranking Syrian regime officials in France, the battle to hold perpetrators accountable for wartime atrocities in Syria is being waged in foreign courts. What kinds of cases are being brought, and where?
