[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) announced on the 24th (local time) that the death toll from the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011, has exceeded 350,000.
Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights leading OHCHR, reported at the 48th United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland, that "a list of 350,209 deaths in the Syrian civil war from March 2011 to March 2021 has been compiled." She added, "Among the total deaths, 26,727 were women, accounting for more than one in every 13 victims," and "child victims also numbered 27,126, nearly one in every 13."
Bachelet stated that this list only includes victims whose names, places, and dates of death have been confirmed, and that the actual number of deaths is much higher. She said, "There are many other victims who could not be included in the death list due to lack of witnesses or related documents." The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, headquartered in London, UK, had earlier estimated the death toll of the Syrian civil war at 494,438 in a report released in June.
The civil war, which began in March 2011 with clashes between the Syrian opposition and President Bashar al-Assad's regime, has not completely stopped even after 10 years. The government forces, once pushed into crisis by offensives from opposition forces supported by the West, reversed the situation with the help of Russia, which intervened in the war in September 2015, and currently control most areas except for the northwestern Idlib province. In the Idlib region, the last stronghold of the opposition, a ceasefire is being maintained through mediation by Russia, supporting the government forces, and Turkey, supporting the opposition.
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