- The complex conditions in Northwest Syria increase the likelihood of human rights infringement in humanitarian operations. Challenges related to funding, scale and size of operations, limitations imposed by de facto authorities, and limited knowledge of human rights frameworks, among others, heighten the risk of human rights abuses in the region. This is further highlighted in the emergency response that followed the Syria-Türkiye earthquake in 2023.
- Human rights challenges include Housing, Land and Property (HLP) rights abuses, environmental harm, health risks, and operational and security implications with direct impact on the lives of partner communities.
- Humanitarian operations in Northwest Syria are governed by international law, namely international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL). These operations are also shaped by humanitarian principles, such as the ‘Do No Harm’ and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) frameworks.
- Humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) may inadvertently infringe human rights by causing, contributing, or being directly linked to violations or abuses against individuals and communities.
- In a context like Northwest Syria, humanitarian NGOs should adopt a more rigorous approach to Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD), known as heightened HRDD. Unlike standard HRDD, heightened HRDD involves a more thorough risk assessment as well as a context-specific analysis to prevent severe human rights impacts.
- Integrating a heightened HRDD process in humanitarian operations will help in preventing human rights abuses in the region, as well as the exacerbation of conflict dynamics. The process is composed of four stages: 1) identifying and assessing risks; 2) integrating findings and taking action; 3) monitoring and tracking impact; and 4) communicating and being accountable.
- The HRDD Tool developed in this report is built on extensive desk research, interviews, experts consultations, and a validation workshop which collected feedback from a number of humanitarian NGOs.
- Given the time limitation to develop the Tool, the research focused on five main sectors of humanitarian operations in Northwest Syria: Protection, Shelter, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), Education, and Healthcare. However, the results could be applied to the wider humanitarian operations, with a potential to integrate new findings in the developed Tool.
- The Tool raises awareness of a range of civil, political, economic, and social rights that are at risk during humanitarian operations in the five targeted sectors. It also includes sections introducing key humanitarian protections and principles that are relevant to the delivery of aid.
- The Tool integrates the HRDD process in the humanitarian Project Cycle Management (PCM) to ensure the prevention of human rights abuses at every stage of the project.
- The PCM is composed of five stages: assessment, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and exit and transition. In this tool, each stage is equipped with risk assessment questions and indicators upon which a plan should be built to prevent potential or actual human rights abuses.
Executive Summary
1 min read
Updated on April 13, 2025