Syria

Peace organisation PAX supports the struggle of peaceful activists in Syria to create a democratic Syria in which Syrians of all religious and ethnic backgrounds can live in peace and equality.

Since the revolution in Syria broke out in 2011, the situation there has developed into a violent conflict. Our attention has thus shifted toward protecting civilians and building peace.

Challenges

The armed conflict in Syria keeps escalating. That makes working in Syria difficult, but it also means that the conflict is becoming ever deeper and more difficult to resolve. The international community’s hesitancy and disunity have contributed to this.

Contact

Marjolein Wijninckx, wijninckx@paxforpeace.nl


Activiteiten & resultaten

Siege Watch

The Siege Watch project monitors and reports on Syria’s besieged areas using data collected on a monthly basis from an extensive network of reporting contacts on the ground. Background information and updates on each besieged community are shared in the Siege Watch interactive map, and through in-depth quarterly reports, thus ensuring that the international community has access to timely, accurate information on the ongoing sieges. Siege Watch is a joint initiative of peace organisation PAX and The Syria Institute. Active monitoring for the project began in late 2015.

Support for local agents of transition

In a new project, run with the Association of Netherlands Municipalities, we work on redeveloping the social contract locally. We involve local government, community-based organisations and armed groups in bringing about transition and in peacebuilding from below.

Policy recommendations

In The Hague, Brussels and New York we offer policy makers recommendations for protecting civilians. We regularly publish a Syria alert.

'We are all citizens' / Kulluna Muwatinun

We are all citizens‘ is a project that we carry out in Syria and Iraq with support from the human rights fund. Its purpose is to create a peaceful society made up of people from various religious and ethnic backgrounds. We facilitate this by building people’s abilities, working on drafting and implementing better legislation, political dialogue and advocacy.

Civil activists

Supporting civil activists is an important part of our work in Syria. They work peacefully for freedom and dignity in a democratic, civilian Syria. We offer moral and financial support. Ever more civilians are reaching for weapons, but we believe that our non-violent civil activists are the key to a free and peaceful society.

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