Press release
Syrian Opposition Coalition
Department of Refugee Affairs
July 18, 2021
Amnesty International’s latest report “No One Will Look For You” unveiled the extent of violations affecting refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom are being subjected to various human rights violations and abuses, including unlawful killings, torture, rape and other ill-treatment, sexual violence, arbitrary and indefinite detention in cruel and inhumane conditions, and forced labor.
The report indicated that 700 refugees and asylum seekers drowned on the sea route in the first six months of 2021. Moreover, about 15,000 asylum seekers were intercepted and returned to Libya, which exceeds the number that was intercepted in the whole of 2020.
Many of these asylum seekers are Syrians who are trying to reach Europe from the Libyan territory in order to flee the ongoing war and the bad conditions in neighboring countries.
The Syrian Opposition Coalition’s (SOC) Department of Refugee Affairs calls on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, and humanitarian organizations concerned with refugee affairs to rescue refugees and asylum seekers and help them reach their destinations. It also calls on international human rights organizations to hold accountable any party that commits violations against refugees and asylum seekers.