Coalition News
In the middle of last month, the CSO – NES held a meeting between the Coalition Coordination Committee (General Board) and the Local Councils (Local Boards). During the two-day meeting in Qamishli city, participants discussed suitable mechanisms and methodological plans that education and agriculture experts will work on in the upcoming phase. The meeting included coordination for field meetings to develop mechanisms for mobilization and advocacy issues to be implemented by the Local Councils in the four regions, al-Jazira, Deir ez-Zor countryside, Raqqa, and Al-Furat.
Furthermore, the Office of the CSO – NES held a coordinating meeting in Qamishli during the same month. The meeting brought together members of the Coalition Board of Directors (Coordination Committee) and representatives from the Civil Society Organizations Platform. The meeting discussed common goals and visions, the necessity of networking on important civil society issues, and the importance of continuing unified efforts and joint coordination work, with future meetings planned.
Coalition Statements:
The Coalition, under the signature of 71 civil society organizations, issued a statement in December condemning the killing of a humanitarian aid worker in NES. The statement reads as follows:
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the European Union (EU), and the United States of America (USA) must take immediate action to prevent further casualties among civilians and protect their fundamental rights by preventing further violations of international law and enabling humanitarian actors to carry out their work.
The organizations signing this statement express their deepest condolences to the family of the humanitarian aid worker who was killed as a result of the targeting of a civilian vehicle he was traveling in with members of his family by a Turkish drone on Nov. 24, 2023, near the city of Amuda in NES.
Since early 2022, areas in NES have witnessed repeated brutal attacks by the Turkish forces, using both drones and warplanes, targeting populated areas and vital facilities. These unlawful attacks have resulted in the death and injury of dozens of civilians, including medical workers, journalists, and humanitarian workers, and the disabling of many civilian facilities due to direct targeting.
The northern and northeastern regions of Syria are home to the most vulnerable families in the country, with approximately five million people residing there, including around one million internally displaced persons who have been displaced multiple times, fleeing severe violence in other parts of the country.
Over the years, attacks on humanitarian workers in Syria have become common. Humanitarian aid workers in Syria and anywhere else are not targets. There is no justification for attacks on humanitarian organizations, their staff, or their supplies. This is not the first time that humanitarian workers have fallen victim to Turkish attacks. A journalist was killed and another was injured on Nov. 20, 2022, and medical workers were injured as a result of repeated and successive attacks by Turkish forces while attempting to save the lives of civilians.
Turkish attacks have destabilized the fragile stability in northern and northeastern Syria, and if these attacks continue, they are likely to lead to another humanitarian catastrophe, which will strain the already stretched humanitarian response due to previous Turkish aggressions.
The organizations signing this statement condemn the targeting of populated areas, humanitarian workers, and vital facilities that are essential for the survival of civilian populations. They warn the international community that these attacks will worsen the existing catastrophic humanitarian crisis and undermine the efforts of civil society and non-governmental organizations, significantly affecting the region’s population in all its components.
The continued loss of civilian lives by Turkish forces is a violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law and a violation of the laws of armed conflict, which strongly prohibit attacks targeting civilians and civilian objects or indiscriminate attacks that do not distinguish between military and civilian targets, which may amount to war crimes.
The organizations signing this statement call on all parties to the conflict in Syria to respect international law, cease attacks on civilians, infrastructure, and vital facilities immediately, and urge the following:
• The UNSC/UN: Take immediate measures to protect civilians and their fundamental rights throughout Syria and ensure the enabling of humanitarian actors to carry out their work.
• The International Coalition/USA: Intervene immediately to halt Turkish attacks on northern and northeastern Syria, close the airspace to drones and warplanes targeting infrastructure, civilian objects, and populated areas, and reject destabilizing stability and undermining efforts to combat the Islamic State (ISIS).
• International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM): Intensify the collection of evidence regarding grave violations of human rights committed by all parties to the conflict against civilians and civilian objects throughout Syria and particularly in the northern and eastern regions of the country.
• War Crimes Units in countries that allow trials based on the principle of Universal Jurisdiction: Expand structural investigations into international crimes in Syria to include those occurring in the northern regions of Syria by all parties to the conflict.
In a related context, the Coalition, under the signature of 158 Syrian civil society organizations, issued a statement in late December condemning the Turkish targeting of civilian infrastructure in NES. The statement reads as follows:
The signatories of this statement call on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to protect civilians and their livelihoods, as well as to cease the targeting of vital infrastructure necessary for the survival of the population
Coinciding with Christmas and New Year celebrations, as well as the war in Gaza, the areas of north and east Syria, inhabited by diverse ethnic and religious groups, are witnessing destructive Turkish military escalation. This escalation includes targeting vital infrastructure, oil and energy sources, and essential facilities necessary for the survival of the civilian population, including Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, and hundreds of thousands of Internally Displaced People (IDPs), mostly women and children, who have come from various Syrian regions.
The Turkish airstrikes began on December 24th, 2023, targeting several oil and energy facilities, including an oil station near Al-Kahef (Bana Shikfatiyah) Village Derik (Al-Malikiyah) and the Awda and Al-Saeeda oil fields in the countryside of Qamishli. The bombardment led to the shutdown of the aforementioned stations, depriving the residents of the region of electricity due to the interruption of gas supplies provided by these stations.
On December 25th, 2023, the Turkish army continued its attacks. Drones returned to bomb factories, service facilities, and civilian properties in Kobani (Ain al-Arab), Amuda, Qamishli, and Derik. Among the targeted sites were a medical facility, an olive oil factory, a sewing workshop, livestock feed facilities, a cement plant, a wedding hall, and the only oxygen cylinder manufacturing laboratory in the region. The most brutal attack was carried out against the workers of a printing press, resulting in the death of four employees, including a young woman.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense, in a statement, officially acknowledged responsibility for these strikes, confirming the deliberate intent behind these targeted attacks. The attacks resulted in the killing of eight people, including two young women, and injured over 14 others, as a preliminary toll, spreading panic among the local population.
The repeated Turkish attacks on infrastructure and energy sources destabilize the already fragile stability in the regions of north and east Syria, which has become a haven for hundreds of thousands of IDPs from across the country. This is not the first time that the infrastructure in the region has been destroyed, all in plain sight and view of the international community. The organizations undersigned in this statement demand the cessation of targeting infrastructure, civilian populations, and civilian properties in north and east Syria, where the residents continue to suffer from the ongoing repercussions of the bloody conflict since 2011. These organizations also remind the Turkish government that the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) imposes a strict and continuous obligation to distinguish between civilian properties and military targets. Infrastructure that provides essential services to civilian populations or which is indispensable for their survival enjoys additional protection under IHL, which explicitly prohibits “attacking objects and materials indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, or their destruction, removal, or impairment.”
The signatories strongly condemn the Turkish military escalation in north and east Syria, demanding an immediate cessation of attacks on civilians, infrastructure, vital facilities, and the respect of IHL. They also affirm that the deliberate targeting carried out by the Turkish government amounts to war crimes under the provisions of International Criminal Law (ICL). They request the following:
UNSC/UN/EU: Take immediate measures to protect civilians and their fundamental rights in north and east Syria and exert pressure on the Turkish government to abide by IHL and cease exporting its internal issues to Syrian territories.
International Coalition/USA: Immediately intervene to halt the Turkish attacks on north and east Syria, close the airspace to drones and warplanes targeting infrastructure, civilian properties, and populated areas, and reject the destabilization and undermining of efforts to combat ISIS.
The International, Impartial, Independent Mechanism (IIIM): Intensify the collection of evidence regarding grave human rights violations committed by all parties to the conflict against civilians and civilian properties throughout Syria, including the repeated Turkish violations in north and east Syria. As well as issue a special report on the targeting of infrastructure in 2023 and its impact on civilian populations.
War Crimes Units in countries whose laws allow for trials based on the principle of universal jurisdiction: Expand structural investigations into international crimes in Syria to include those occurring in the northern Syrian regions by all parties to the conflict.
Snapshot of Regional Coalition ActivitiesSpecially in Qamshly, as there was a meeting between the General Board and the Local Boards. The participants,Discussed over 2 days appropriate mechanisms and methodological plans that education and agriculture experts will work on in the upcoming phase.
The meeting participants discussed suitable mechanisms and methodological plans that education and agriculture experts will work on in the upcoming phase. pic.twitter.com/dN864hayet
— CSO – NES (@NesCso) December 19, 2023
There were also informative posters showcasing the principles, independence, and visions of the CSO – NES.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C1R64Wtt0LX/
https://www.instagram.com/p/C1R60U5teWE/
https://www.instagram.com/p/C1R62iytw8-/
An infographic album about the Coalition, highlighting its message, vision, operational mechanism, and goals.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02cLitkgQK7XA8eMTnePG19jHXvvBRc2XkEx2yQHDQFG6AHzUDfxaymv8w6KTWaG9Ul&id=100075781364334
News from Organizations Affiliated with the Coalition:
As part of the 16 days of activism against Gender-Based Violence, Tara for Development Organization conducted a dialogue session with young girls to understand the types of violence they experience in their daily lives and to seek solutions and raise awareness.
The session included open discussions and exchanging opinions about domestic violence, whether violence varies with age for young girls and women, and whether they are more vulnerable to abuse compared to other groups.
The session concluded with several recommendations and advice for raising awareness and engaging in joint activities among the participants.
Within “Women Can” project,
The organization “Sunbala Al-Furat” conducted two awareness sessions on the importance of economic participation for women returning from camps and displaced persons in the Baghuz and Al-Sousa areas.
The sessions covered the following topics:
1. The current status of women’s economic participation.
2. The challenges that hinder women’s integration into the labor market.
3. Presenting the most important recommendations that enhance women’s economic participation.