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Summer 2017
DEFENDERS
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frankly, incalculable. There was no clear or evident formula sufficient to assess
the true scale and dimensions of the suffering caused to Syria’s population
– the deaths and injuries, the devastation and dislocation of families and
livelihoods, or the destruction of homes, property, historical sites and religious
and cultural icons.
Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, remained mired in armed
conflict between an array of Yemeni and foreign military forces which
continued to exhibit a wanton disregard for the lives of civilians, carrying
out indiscriminate attacks using bombs, artillery shells and other imprecise
weapons, and directly attacking civilians and civilian structures.
• Justice System
Security forces throughout the region arbitrarily arrested and detained actual
and suspected government critics and opponents, often using vague and
broadly drawn laws. In Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), detainees
were frequently subjected to enforced disappearance: cut off from the outside
world, deprived of legal protection and tortured to force “confessions” that
courts used to convict them at trial.
• Refugees, Internally Displaced People And Migrants
Across the region, millions of people were on the move seeking to escape
armed conflicts or other violence, political repression or economic degradation.
They included refugees and asylum-seekers, people displaced within their
own country, and migrants from the region and beyond. Many were children;
some were unaccompanied and especially vulnerable to human trafficking and
sexual and other exploitation and abuse.