Transformation through Justice for Syria Lessons from South Africa, Indonesia and Colombia

Introduction

The Syrian conflict has become more violent and intractable since civil protests first broke out in March 2012. It degenerated from peaceful grassroots protests in local neighborhoods to provincial uprisings, civil conflict, and a regional proxy war. From the country’s pre-war population of 22 million, between 400,000 and 470,000 people are estimated to have been killed.1 Approximately 7.6 million citizens have been internally displaced. Many have been caught in the crossfire of rival groups, while thousands more have continued to disappear into the regime’s detention centers, where torture and abuse are rife. More than 4 million Syrians have fled the country and are registered across the region in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.2 Thousands more have risked the dangerous journey to Europe.

Conclusion

In Syria, some preparatory steps in supporting transitional justice have begun. Documentation, an essential aspect of justice procedures, whether that be through courts, reparations, truth commissions, or memorializations, is already underway. A number of Syrian activists and organizations have been documenting the atrocities and violence being carried out in Syria by the multiple conflict parties since 2011. Local reconciliation efforts have been initiated in some areas. Many of these efforts, however, are being carried out by the Syrian regime’s Ministry for National Reconciliation Affairs, which was established in 2013. These “reconciliation” efforts are usually in areas that have been under siege by the regime for a long time and capitulate due to the pressure. It is incredibly difficult to initiate any form of peacebuilding or transitional justice mechanisms in besieged or occupied areas. For this reason, the few legitimate transitional justice initiatives or peacebuilding efforts in Syria have been in areas when they have been free of regime control such Al-Hasaka in the North, Eastern Ghouta in the South, or in areas around Idlib in the Northwest. Projects in these respective areas include mediation efforts by women and programs promoting the resolution of conflicts and elimination of violence (Al-Hasaka), efforts to address sexual assault survivors and witnesses (though often from another district due to the sensitivity) (Eastern Ghouta), and discussions on democracy, transitional justice, and women’s political participation (Idlib).