The stories of human rights defenders in Syria demonstrate some of the terrifying outcomes of the Syrian conflict of the last five years, reveals a new report by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR). The report, entitled “Syrian Human Rights Defenders Losing Hope with International Community as Human Rights Violations Continue Unabated”, is based on a late 2015 mission to meet dozens of Syrian human rights defenders and follow-up research, including personal testimonies.

The report’s objective is to highlight the lack of response to promote and protect human rights defenders working in life-threatening situations. It focuses on three groups of human rights defenders: journalists, lawyers and humanitarian workers. It will be released in Geneva during a side event at the United Nations Human Rights Council on 16 March from 17:00 to 18:00 in room XXIII at the Palais des Nations.

“Blood has become so normal to see now, and the same way we overcame the scene of blood we need to overcome the challenges to survive and help others survive,” Mohammad Khoder, a journalist working with the NGO Sound and Picture, told GCHR.

“With widespread insecurity, constant fear, and the normalisation of violence, carrying the responsibilities of providing hope and lobbying for justice during the biggest crisis of our time makes Syrian human rights defenders’ lives extremely hard and inevitably prone to high risk,” says the GCHR report. “But it does not deter their commitment to protect people’s rights from all sides of the conflict.”

“Being a human rights defender in Syria means you are a target for all sides of the conflict. If you are still on the inside, it means you also face all the risks everyone else faces like barrel bombs, torture and being disappeared to mention a few,” said GCHR Co-Director Maryam Al-Khawaja, who coordinated the mission. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that Syria is the worst place in the world to be an active human rights defender. And too many years have gone by without any respite.”

“Lawyers face mayhem in non-existent judicial procedures, journalists face restrictions on telling the truths in a chaotic media sector, and humanitarian workers face difficulties due to the lack of access into areas in dire need,” says the GCHR report. “Each region in Syria has its own story and its own escalation of events, and eventually its own controlling faction.”

Many of the defenders with whom GCHR has worked are in detention, have been disappeared, or are on trial before military and anti-terrorism courts. Despite an overall difficult picture there have been some individual successes.

GCHR has repeatedly called on all those involved in the conflict in Syria to respect and protect human rights defenders. The report concludes with over a dozen recommendations made directly to GCHR by Syrian human rights defenders which would help improve their lives.

Click HERE to download the full report in English. Arabic is also available on the GCHR website.