The Violations Documentation Observatory was established under the Civil Society Portal based on the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression’s understanding of the centrality of the role of civil society in building sustainable peace in Syria, and the need to enable it to develop its tools and formulate its visions and exercise its role in producing institutions based on good governance and standards of integrity and transparency in accordance with the democratic system and the Bill of Human Rights.

The Observatory follows up and documents violations against Syrian civil society organizations and their workers while performing their tasks or because of them. The Observatory also collects and analyzes data to identify those organizations’ work obstacles and change the space for freedom in their work, and to provide a semi-integrated view of the reality of an active civil society, able to advance a post-conflict society, and play its various roles that have a long-term impact and societal effectiveness, in reconciliation and the consolidation of civil peace, transitional justice, reconstruction and others.