(Photo: Javier Manzano/AFP/Getty Images)

EIGHTY-THREE PERCENT OF SYRIA’S LIGHTS EXTINGUISHED AFTER FOUR YEARS OF CRISIS

In Arab Countries by CIHRS

Eighty-three percent of all the lights in Syria have gone out since the start of the conflict there, a global coalition of humanitarian and human rights organisations has revealed ahead of the fourth anniversary on March 15.

Analysing satellite images, scientists based at Wuhan University in China and the University of Maryland, in co-operation with the #withSyria coalition of 130 non-governmental organisations, have shown that the number of lights visible over Syria at night has fallen by 83% since March 2011.

“Four years since this crisis began, Syria’s people have been plunged into the dark: destitute, fearful, and grieving for the friends they have lost and the country they once knew,” said David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. “Four years since the crisis began, there is at present very little light in this tunnel. Over two hundred thousand people have been killed and a staggering eleven million have been forced to flee their homes. Syrians deserve much better from the international community – it is past time to show that we have not given up and will work with them to turn the lights back on.”

“Satellite imagery is the most objective source of data showing the devastation of Syria on a national scale,” said Dr Xi Li, lead researcher on the project. “Taken from 500 miles above the earth, these images help us understand the suffering and fear experienced by ordinary Syrians every day, as their country is destroyed around them. In the worst-affected areas, like Aleppo, a staggering 97% of the lights have gone out. The exceptions are the provinces of Damascus and Quneitra, near the Israeli border, where the decline in light has been 35% and 47% respectively.”

The #withSyria coalition also today released a hard-hitting film and launched a global petition that calls on world leaders to ‘turn the lights back on in Syria’ by:

  • Prioritising a political solution with human rights at its heart;
  • Boosting the humanitarian response both for those inside Syria and refugees, including through increased resettlement;
  • Insisting that all parties put an end to attacks on civilians and stop blocking aid

Dr Zaher Sahloul, President of the Syrian American Medical Society, said: “The rise of terrorist groups crossing borders has spread fear and focused the world’s attention on Syria – but it has distracted governments from the suffering of ordinary Syrians and the abuses committed by all sides in this conflict. Every day Syrian medics, aid workers and teachers are taking enormous risks to help their neighbours and loved ones, while the international community continuously fails to pursue a political solution and an end to the violence and suffering.”

In 2014, the UN Security Council adopted three resolutions that demanded action to secure protection and assistance for civilians in Syria. Since then, thousands of Syrians have been killed, and more people have been displaced or are in need of help than ever before. A new report ‘Failing Syria’ released today accuses warring parties and powerful states of failing to achieve what these resolutions set out to do.

Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council and former United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said: “2014 was the darkest year yet in this horrific war. Civilians are not protected as the Security Council promised they would be, their access to relief has not improved and humanitarian funding is declining compared to the needs. It is an outrage how we are failing Syrians.”

The full list of signatories to this release is:

  1. ACT Alliance
  2. Alkarama Foundation
  3. Alliance for Peacebuilding
  4. American Friends Service Committee
  5. Amnesty International
  6. Andalus Institute for Tolerance and anti-Violence Studies
  7. Arab Coalition for Sudan
  8. Arab Foundation for Civil Society
  9. Arab Network for NGO Development
  10. Arab Organisation for Human Rights – Egypt
  11. Arab Organisation for Human Rights – Libya
  12. Arab Organisation for Human Rights – Syria
  13. Arab Program For Human Rights Activists
  14. Badael Foundation
  15. Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society
  16. Broederlijk Delen
  17. CAABU (Council for Arab-British Understanding)
  18. CAFOD
  19. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
  20. CARE France
  21. CARE Germany
  22. CARE International
  23. CARE Luxembourg
  24. CARE UK
  25. CARE USA
  26. Caritas Australia
  27. Caritas Czech Republic
  28. Center for Victims of Torture
  29. ChildrenPlus
  30. Christian Aid
  31. Church of England
  32. Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC)
  33. Darfur Bar Association
  34. Dawlaty
  35. Development and Peace
  36. Doctors of the World UK
  37. Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network
  38. Fédération Internationale des Droits de l’Homme (FIDH)
  39. Fraternity Birati Center for Democracy and Civil Society
  40. Friends Committee on National Legislation
  41. Global Center for R2P
  42. Global Communities
  43. GOAL
  44. Governance Bureau – Sudan
  45. Hand in Hand for Syria
  46. HelpAge International
  47. Human Rights & Democracy Media Center (SHAMS)
  48. Human Rights First Society – Saudi Arabia
  49. Human Rights Watch
  50. Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (HIVOS)
  51. International Rescue Committee (IRC)
  52. Islamic Relief
  53. Justice et Paix
  54. Karam Foundation
  55. Lebanese Center for Human Rights
  56. Ligue des droits de l’Homme (LDH)
  57. MAP UK
  58. Médecins du Monde (MdM)
  59. MENA Coalition to Stop use of Child Soldiers
  60. MercyCorps
  61. Middle East and North Africa Partnership for Preventing of Armed Conflict
  62. Najda-Now
  63. No Peace Without Justice
  64. Nonviolence Network in the Arab Countries
  65. Norwegian Church Aid
  66. Norwegian Refugee Council
  67. One World Egypt
  68. Open Doors International
  69. Open Doors UK & Ireland
  70. Oxfam International
  71. Pax Christi International
  72. People In Need
  73. Permanent Peace Movement
  74. Physicians for Human Rights
  75. Protection Approaches
  76. Refugees International
  77. Refugee Council
  78. Relief & Reconciliation for Syria AISBL
  79. Rethink Rebuild Society
  80. Save the Children
  81. Sawa for Development and Aid
  82. Solidarités International
  83. Souriyat Association
  84. South Africa Forum for International Solidarity (SAFIS)
  85. Sudan Social Development Organisations (SUDO UK)
  86. Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS)
  87. Syrian Athletics Body
  88. Syrian Community in Egypt
  89. Syrian Relief and Development
  90. Syrian Women Hand in Hand
  91. Tearfund
  92. The Day After Association
  93. The Syria Campaign
  94. The Violation Documentation Center in Syria
  95. Trocaire
  96. United to End Genocide
  97. Welthungerhilfe
  98. World Food Program USA
  99. World Vision
  100. World Vision UK
  101. Zarga Organisation for Rural Development (ZORD) – Sudan

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