A/HRC/37/72 66. Across Raqqah, Dayr al-Zawr, and Hamah governorates, ISIL detained civilians accused of violating its rules or suspected of cooperating with enemy forces, members of minority religious groups, journalists and activists accused of reporting on alleged violations committed by the group. In late July 2017, ISIL arrested and beat a young man in southern Dayr al-Zawr governorate for possessing Internet cables, accusing him of assisting Government forces. In another incident, in mid-October, the group arrested some 40 members of the Druze community in Hamah countryside thereby continuing its practice of arbitrarily detaining religious minorities. 67. Some anti-Government armed groups used makeshift detention sites in areas under their control to hold civilians. For example, on 1 November 2017, Nour al-Din al-Zenki detained three civilians, including a member of the Free Education Directorate, in Darat Izza (Aleppo). The arrests took place during clashes with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in Aleppo governorate. During a month of detention, at least two of the detainees were beaten, kept in solitary confinement and forced to fingerprint a confession. Two of the detainees were released after being brought before a “military” judge of the armed group. 68. During the course of operations in Raqqah and Dayr al-Zawr, Syrian Democratic Forces claimed that they had detained 1,397 “terrorist” fighters, the majority of whom are or were ISIL members, including hundreds of foreign fighters from as many as 30 countries.19 Women and children associated with ISIL were also being held. While Syrian Democratic Forces had indicated that it was seeking to return foreign fighters, spouses and children to their countries of origin, they reported that States had thus far declined to repatriate their nationals, which left them in legal and administrative limbo. Syrian nationals held as ISIL fighters will reportedly be “judged” by “courts” affiliated with Syrian Democratic Forces. 69. International human rights law and humanitarian law impose clear obligations on States and all parties to non-international conflicts regarding the treatment and protection of persons in their custody. Regardless of the lawfulness of their detention, detainees are entitled to conditions of detention that respect their inherent dignity under article 3 that is common to the four Geneva Conventions as well as customary international humanitarian law. VIII. Life under siege 70. Over the past five years, the use of siege warfare has affected civilians more than any other tactic employed by the warring parties, and is consistently characterized by denial of the rights to freedom of movement, food, water, education, health care and the right to life. The most devastating of the sieges was that of eastern Aleppo that was laid by proGovernment forces between July and December 2016.20 Close to 420,000 Syrian civilians remain confined in besieged locations and 90 per cent of them now subsist in dire circumstances in eastern Ghutah (Rif Damascus). An additional 2.9 million Syrians live in areas that are hard to reach by humanitarian actors. Pro-Government forces, armed groups and terrorist organizations have routinely denied the delivery of vital foodstuffs, health items, and other essential supplies to besieged civilian populations in an effort to compel the surrender of armed groups governing them. As noted by the Commission21 in January 2016, Government forces used starvation as a method of warfare in the siege of Madaya (Rif Damascus), which constitutes a war crime. 22 Starvation has led to severe acute malnutrition and has had a disparate impact on expectant mothers and children. Malnutrition is exacerbated by the routine denial of medical evacuations. 19 20 21 22 See People’s Defense Units, “2017 Balance sheet of war — Syrian Democratic Forces”, press release, 3 January 2018, available at www.ypgrojava.org/2017-Balance-Sheet-of-War-%E2%80%93-SyrianDemocratic-Forces. See A/HRC/34/64. See A/HRC/31/68, para. 120. See International Committee of the Red Cross, rule 156. 15