New report – Defiled in Northern Syria: Rights to Housing, Land, Water and Livelihood

On the occasion of World Habitat Day and `urban October,` this new report from Insight Organization and HIC-HLRN documents examples of the housing, land, water and livelihood rights violations endured by the civilian population in the northwestern and northeastern territories of Syria over the past two years. With around 2.9 million persons displaced in the region throughout 13 years of conflict, inhabitants of these parts of Syria have been forced to live with displacement, dispossession, looting and theft, compelled to seek alternatives for housing, work and income.

Based on the local monitoring efforts of the Insight Association, evidence is shared to make a case for returning displaced persons to their properties, holding the perpetrators accountable, or redressing their costs, loss and damage. Despite the plurality of perpetrators, these violations form a common and systematic policy in certain areas where various foreign-backed militias operate. The reader will appreciate that, because of the inherent difficulties on gathering information, figures provided here for land area, extent of damage and numbers of affected persons are estimated.

In order to present a coherent picture from this mosaic, this presentation largely pursues a chronological approach. To develop a current snapshot of the ongoing situation, this report covers only the most-recent period (2023–24). Partial though this documentary record may be, it gives the reader a glimpse into what everyday Syrians are forced to endure at the hands and lethal arms of foreign occupants of their territory.

Download report here