Fayez Abu Eid

The armed conflict in Syria since 2011 has subjected Palestinian refugees to grave human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and sieges, in addition to the widespread destruction of Palestinian camps and their infrastructure.
Given the restrictions on access to information and the lack of official transparency imposed by both sides of the conflict throughout the years of fighting, technology and digital tools have emerged as essential means of documenting these violations and preserving related evidence.
Digital documentation plays an increasingly important role in collecting, verifying, and archiving information, thereby enhancing its potential use in human rights advocacy efforts and future legal accountability processes.
In this context, the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria emerged as one of the independent human rights organizations that played a pivotal role in monitoring and documenting violations against Palestinian refugees in Syria. This was achieved through the creation of digital databases and documented archives based on multiple sources.
The number of Palestinian refugees residing in Syria before 2011 was estimated at approximately 560,000, distributed across several Palestinian camps and communities in various Syrian governorates. The most prominent of these was Yarmouk Camp in Damascus, which was considered the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the country.
With the escalation of the war in Syria, many Palestinian camps were subjected to bombardment, destruction, and forced displacement. Violations affected all aspects of the refugees’ lives, including arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, siege, and restrictions on movement. Under these circumstances, the need arose for independent and reliable mechanisms to monitor and document violations, a task to which modern technology and digital tools have significantly contributed.

*Technology content as a tool for documentation*,
1.1 *verification, and preserving collective memory.*

*The role of the action group in documentation and archiving*

The Action Group for Palestinians of Syria is one of the most prominent human rights organizations that has been working since 2012 to monitor and document the violations suffered by Palestinian refugees in Syria.

The group developed a methodology based on gathering information from multiple sources, including firsthand accounts, visual materials, and digital documents, in addition to verification and auditing processes before incorporating the data into its database.
According to the data the group has documented up to recent years, it has been able to record the following:
The documentation of more than 5,500 Palestinian refugee victims who died as a result of military operations, torture, or due to siege and humanitarian conditions;
The documentation of more than 2,500 arrests of Palestinian refugees in Syria;
The recording of more than 5,000 cases of enforced disappearance of Palestinian detainees whose fate remains unknown;
and the observation of widespread destruction in Palestinian camps, with large parts of Yarmouk, Daraa, Khan al-Sheikh, and Handarat camps suffering extensive damage as a result of military operations.
The group also worked to create a comprehensive digital archive containing diverse documentary materials, including thousands of videos documenting the bombing and destruction of Palestinian camps, hundreds of video testimonies from victims and detainees, and thousands of photos and digital documents related to the events and violations that occurred during the Syrian revolution.
This archive is considered an important resource for researchers, journalists, and human rights organizations studying the situation of Palestinian refugees in Syria.

*Technology as a tool for documentation and verification*

The widespread use of smartphones and social media applications has enabled individuals to document events and violations instantly. This has led to a significant increase in the volume of digital material available for documentation.
Modern technologies have also enhanced the credibility of documented material through the use of digital verification tools, such as geolocation technologies for pinpointing the exact locations of events, open-source analysis for verifying the authenticity of images and videos, and encrypted cloud storage platforms for preserving documentation and preventing its loss or confiscation.
These tools have become an essential part of the documentation methodologies adopted by many international human rights organizations.

*Technology and the preservation of collective memory*

In addition to its role in documenting violations, technology has contributed to preserving the collective memory of Palestinian refugees in Syria by creating digital platforms that include the names, photos, and biographies of victims and detainees.
This type of archiving is crucial for preserving the human identity of victims, supporting families’ right to know the truth, and providing a documented record that can be relied upon in future transitional justice processes.
Available data indicates that digital technology played a decisive role in documenting the violations suffered by Palestinian refugees in Syria during the years of conflict.
In conclusion, it can be said that the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria has contributed significantly to these efforts by developing extensive digital databases and archives that document the violations committed and provide reliable information about victims, detainees, and missing persons.