11 Mar 2015

21 humanitarian and human rights organisations say warring parties and powerful states have failed to implement UNSC resolutions leading to "worst year" of crisis for civilians in Syria.

The agencies today released a scathing critique of the UN Security Council powers detailing how they have failed to alleviate the suffering of civilians in Syria amid intensifying conflict four years after the start of the crisis.

On 4 March 2015, Alkarama called on the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Summary Executions (SUMX) regarding the arbitrary executions of seven civilians during the Egyptian military operation on the Eastern Libyan coastal city of Derna on 16 February 2015. Amongst the victims were Rabha Saleh Ahmed Al Mansouri, 44, and three of her children, Afrah, 7, Huzaifa, 2 and Zakaria, 6. Only Mrs Al Mansouri's husband and their 8-year-old son survived the bombing of their house by the Egyptian army.

On 27 February 2015, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians sent a communication to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), regarding the disappearance of two brothers from Homs between March 2012 and May 2013.

During its 8th session held in February 2015, the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) adopted the List of Issues in relation to the report submitted by Iraq.

On 27 February 2015, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians sent a communication to the United Nation Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID) concerning the case of two Syrian political activists victims of enforced disappearance.

On 23 February 2015, Alkarama solicited the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions (SUMX) to ask the Egyptian authorities to launch investigations into the arbitrary executions of two men killed during military operations in North Sinai.

On 17 February 2015, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) regarding the case of Mohamed Saïd Rizq, a 27-year-old Egyptian citizen repeatedly tortured by the security forces since his arrest on 27 August 2014. Held in deplorable detention conditions, Rizq is in a critical condition and still at high risk of torture.

On 1 February 2015, Tarek Rabaa was set free, after more than four years of detention in Lebanese jails. Summoned to the Ministry of Defence for investigation on 12 July 2010, the 45-year-old Lebanese engineer was subsequently arrested. An arrest warrant was issued a month later on charges of "collaborating and communicating with the enemy".

On 11 February 2015, Alkarama wrote to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health (SRH) and the Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT), regarding the cases of three Egyptian citizens who died in detention in late 2014. Abubakar Ahmed Hanafi, aged 46, Zaki Abu Hanafi Majd, 54, and Mahmoud Abdelrazak Shafie Rouby, 27, all lost their lives due to the lack of appropriate medical treatment.

On 12 February 2015, Alkarama wrote to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) and the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions (SUMX) asking these Special Procedures on human rights to urge the Egyptian authorities to duly investigate the arbitrary execution of 28-year-old mentally disabled, Ammar Youssef Zariea, and to put under the protection o