Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria

The Center for Documentination of Violations (CDV) or sometimes Violations Documentation Center (VDC) (Arabic: مركز توثيق الانتهاكات في سوريا ) is another almost-one-man organization like the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), but with a different approach (they're more stridently anti-regime and less concerned with Islamists and sectarianism), and different results. Its one-man leadership answer to Rami Abdulrahman is Razan Zeitouneh, general coordinator, described by the Daily Star (Lebanon) as "prominent human rights lawyer and opposition activist " Less influential than SOHR by a long shot, the VDC is still worth a bit of examination.

I have been citing their database here for a while, most of the time wrongly using the acronym SCDV, and I sometimes call them the Center for Violations of Documentation. That usage is not accidental, but is sort of arbitrary. Most notably their entries were of great help understanding the May, 2013 Al-Bayda Massacre. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:11, 18 October 2013 (UTC)

On the organization's "About" page, they describe a rigorous three-stage process to get the fullest information considering "the complexities of the Syrian situation," to "overcome a number of these obstacles as much as possible together with maintaining the credibility of our center and the rights of victims by conveying the truth as it is." The Wikipedia page, citing a BBC multimedia thing, says the CDV "works with the activists from the Local Coordination Committees of Syria" (LCC).

Damascus Mass Grave Claims
The Lebanese Daily Star reported on October 1, 2013 "Rights group finds mass graves near Damascus," but not related to the Ghouta alleged Sarin attack. Instead, they aired a dramatic new claim that thousands of political prisoners of the regime had been executed en masse and buried secretly. Using ". satellite imagery provided by Human Rights Watch," the "Violations and Documentation Center" was cited for locating "two sites it believes are being used to bury thousands of regime detainees in the Damascus area.

The CDV's own page on this subject is here Press Releases ::   Hundreds of Detainees buried in mass mraves in Damascus Suburbs in Branch 215 38-page PDF report can be downloaded there. Another member, Bassam al-Ahmad (a spokesman to the Daily Star), compiled the report (Under the supervision of Razan Zeitouneh).

Syria Death Toll Calculations
The death toll for the whole Syrian conflict reported by the CDV is vastly different from that of the SOHR. The SOHR's count passed 115,206 (a minimum, verified number) before this October 1 Facebook update. Months before they stated, as 94,000 was passed, that the real death toll was likely 120,000 or more, and by now perhaps nearing 150,000. The minimum count should be about 116,000 now. As of this writing, in mid-October, the VDC's count of "martyrs" since 2011 (as shown on their main page or all martyrs search) has just passed 76,000. But unlike SOHR, that's not the full number. It includes civilians, rebel fighters, foreign fighters, unidentified tortured bodies, etc. It's presumed all these are killed by regime forces and not anyone allied with any of the martyrs. There are no loyal army, NDF/Shabiha, pro-gvernment activists and informers, Alawite civilians massacred during Islamist raids, etc. The people killed by rebels that they do count, and it seems a bit short, is VDC "Regime forces fatlities" aka "other statistics" - currently at 11,455. So their real total is 87,542, about 28,000 behind SOHR.

The breakdown differences are also interesting. The "regime" deaths are further divided by the SOHR 10-1: Regular soldiers and officers: 28,804 Popular defence committees, National defence forces, Shabiha and pro-regime informers: 18,228 Fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah: 174 total = 47,206 - 40% of a larger total, almost four times the VDC's 11,455, about 12% of their small total. VDC's Martyrs = SOHR's break-down groups: Civilians: 40,146 Rebel fighters: 17,071 Defected soldiers and officers: 2,176 Unidentified casualties (documented by pictures and footages): 2,760 Unidentified and foreign rebel fighters (mostly the latter): 4.460. Total = 66,613 to VDC's 76,000, which includes, for example, none of the hundreds of Alawite civilians recently slaughtered by Islamists in Latakia, Homs, and elsewhere (see below).

Violations of Documentation
The main problem with the CDV method seems to be taking the explanation of its rebel militant sources at face value with no verification or other types of sources consulted. And sometimes it's what's not reported by their sources, even as the rest of the world is talking about it, that gives them away. The effects are varied and I seek to cite a few best examples to show each type. --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:24, 18 October 2013 (UTC)

Massacres of Alawites and non-Sunnis with problematic reportage

 * Shumariyeh Massacre May 25, 2012: Not even recognized by most people as an event, just an alleged side-aspect of the Houla massacre, the ten Alawite victims state media identified as murdered in a rebel offensive out of al-Qusayr, have no reported entries here.
 * Aqrab Massacre, Dec. 2-11, 2012: The killed negotiators appear (about six), one possible child victim laundered, and some villagers killed at the time of the rebel takeover on the 2nd and 3rd all appear here, plus a rebel who died in the attack. None of the 125-150 Alawites rebels reported blown up, out of the 200-235 they held captive, appear. Again, not that they really appear on the world's radar screen either.
 * Hatlah Massacre, June 12, 2013: There seem to be a few scattered clues in the areas and days around this undeniable rebel assault on Shia civilians, including a prominent cleric and his family. But none of the main victims, civilians or Shia militia members who reportedly took the brunt of it, nor anything clear in the town of Hatlah appears at all. Detailed analysis at the link.
 * Latakia Massacres, August 4-? 2013: Rebel and government forces are recorded fighting and dying in the area but of the 200 civilians massacred in a dozen small towns, not a one is recorded here. Nor do the estimated 200 captured civilians appear in its databases for those detained or missing. This time, Human Rights Watch and the world are taking note, and the CDV record finally appears outright suspicious.
 * Maksar al-Husan Massacres, Mid-September, 2013: No trace of it whatsoever, when SOHR and a worried global media fretted that this wasn't a one-time thing.

Others I should check on?

Strange "Regime" Inclusions
On October 24, a civilian typed in as "Al Jpkhdar" (al-Jokhdar?) (from Salamia, Hama, martyrdom location blank) "was shot by one of the barriers to regime forces "Local committees" and after a search of the car turned out to have been killed by mistake, He is Alawites," CDV noted. He appears in the regime forces list as a civilian, and not on the martyrs list for those killed by the regime. ([All men from Hama killed Oct. 23-25]). The name must be Jokhdar, and to be fair, two others appear as martyrs (and none no more on the other list). A man, again only named by family name: Of Al-Jokhdar family, age 65, killed in "shelling," Bab Sbaa, Homs, March 23, 2012. And a girl, Jouhaina Jokhdar, from Sakhour, Aleppo, age 12, was shot July 21, 2012. Also, Two Gokhdar men, Alaa Deen Ali and Khalid Abdul Tazaq Gokhdar, likely unrelated, from Damascus, Doummar (Douma?) killed April 5, by "Detention - Torture" (not "Detention - Torture -Execution") among "Ten martyrs under torture in military security branch 215."