Syrian Network for Human Rights

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR, Arabic: الشبكة السورية لحقوق الإنسان) is a UK-based^[2][6][7] human rights NGO,^[8][9][10] which monitors casualties and has briefed various United Nations agencies.^[11] It monitors Syrian casualties of all the parties in the Syrian civil war.^[12] The SNHR was founded in June 2011 by Fadel Abdul Ghany, who is the chairman of the board of directors.^[13] Members have been detained, and many now live outside Syria.^[1]

Syrian Network for Human Rights

الشبكة السورية لحقوق الإنسان
Abbreviation	SNHR
Founded	June 2011 (2011-06)
Founder	Fadel Abdul Ghany[1]
Type	NGO[2]
Focus	Human rights[3]
Board of directors	Fadel Abdul Ghany (chairman)[4][5] Burhan Ghalioun[4] Bettahar Bojlal[4] Hassan Okour[4] Hamza al Mustafa[4]
Website	snhr.org

Its reports have been cited by various news media,^[14][2] non-governmental organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch,^[15][16] as well as by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.^[17][18]

Detainees and Forcibly Disappeared in Syria

The SNHR is known to keep one of the most rigorous tallies of Syrian citizens forcibly disappeared throughout the conflict in Syria by all sides.

As of May 2019, according to the SNHR, nearly 128,000 people have never emerged from Bashar al-Assad's secret network of prisons – and nearly 14,000 were killed under torture.^[8][9] Anne Barnard, writing for The New York Times reported that the SNHR's tally, described as the most rigorous, was probably an undercount.^[8] Barnard was also asked how the SNHR compiled their figures.^[9] She said the reason they were considered the most rigorous and reliably conservative numbers is their numbers were actual counts of reports they received, and they were not extrapolations or estimates.^[9] Barnard said a death had to be reported by a family member or a direct witness and they did not take third party accounts.^[9] She added that they took phone calls and had a form on their website, and then they went through and verified what they could in the detailed report.^[9] They also went back and called people listed as possible family members of people who were missing for a long time to find out if they were still missing.^[9]

In 2018, The Violations Documentation Center in Syria (VDC) counted nearly 9,500 deaths in detention since 2011, compared to over 13,000 counted by the SNHR.^[19] The VDC acknowledged its estimates were more conservative than those of the SNHR and other monitors as its methodology was to only document deaths once information like the name of the victims and the circumstances surrounding their deaths were confirmed.^[19]

The group also supplied key data for a report done by The Washington Post in June 2019 detailing the reported arrests of around 2,000 Syrian refugees who had been "detained after returning to Syria during the past two years".^[20]

Accuracy, governance and independence

The SNHR has been described various major outlets including The Guardian and The New York Times as rigorous, independent, and credible.^[8][21]

It documented six media workers killed in Syria in December 2024, saying five of them were killed by Assad regime forces and one by the SDF.^[22]

In January 2025, during the East Aleppo offensive, the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) accused SNHR of falsely attributing three deaths in Al-Qashla village southeast of Manbij three deaths to the SDF, which the SDF attributed to Turkish mercenaries, alleging that the SNHR's information sharing is directed by Turkey.^{[23][non-primary source needed]} This came after the SNHR published its December 2024 civilian death report, in which it accused the SDF of killing 108 civilians in the month of December while only attributing 8 civilian deaths to all Syrian opposition forces including the SNA, and 9 civilian deaths to Turkey.^[24]

In January 2025, the SNHR documented a total of 24 civilians killed by Turkish and SNA forces.^[25] The SNHR's January 2025 report documented the killing of 17 protestors in Turkish airstrikes, alleging that their participation in the protest had been coerced by the SDF, who stationed their forces in civilian areas.^[25]

Governance

SNHR is registered as a non-profit limited liability company in the United Kingdom, and a non-profit organization in the United States.^[26] It is governed by a board of directors with five members and its executive director manages seven divisions.^[26] As of 2019, it has 27 full-time employees as well as over 70 volunteers.^[26]