International humanitarian law and human rights violations in Syria

Abstract

All parties involved in the Syrian conflict have carried out extensive violations of international humanitarian law and human rights. In particular, all parties are guilty of targeting civilians. Rape and sexual violence have been widely used as a weapon of war, notably by the government, ISIL and extremist groups. Reports by the International Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic constitute the most definitive source of evidence about human rights violations in the Syrian conflict. Their findings are corroborated by reports by other human rights groups, e.g. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as media coverage of the conflict. The available evidence varied in the extent to which it differentiated between men, women and children.