International law researcher: Syria still witnesses tragedy... Justice absent, impunity

The Syrian arena continues to witness serious repercussions from grave violations and ongoing crimes, amidst increasing demands to hold those responsible accountable and to end the policy of impunity, ensuring justice for the victims and laying the foundations for genuine transitional justice in the country.

In this context, international law researcher Khaled Jabr spoke to ANHA agency, saying: "When we look at the Syrian geography in general, from 14 years ago until now, we find that it has witnessed many violations and crimes." Some of these violations were systematic, while others were isolated incidents, but the victim is the same: the Syrian people.

He added: "The scourge of crime continues, and the reasons for this are the inability to fill the security vacuum, along with the spread of radical organizations, which is why crimes are still ongoing."

Crimes in the coast and Sweida rise to war crimes

Jabr pointed out that the Syrian situation is witnessing a "real tragedy until now," and said: "With Assad's fall for more than a year, the crimes continue." What happened in the coast and Sweida of identity-based murders cannot be forgotten, and it amounts to war crimes under the basic rules of the International Criminal Court. It is a violation of international humanitarian law and international treaties that were established to protect humans in areas of armed conflict.

Extensive international documentation and absent accountability

Jabr clarified that the crimes are documented, and continued: "Going back two years, fact-finding committees were formed by the United Nations, under the umbrella of the Human Rights Council, and they work on directly documenting the violations, in addition to the documentation of crimes by local and international human rights organizations." And there is a large amount of information documented internationally and locally, but what we need is how to hold the criminals accountable and implement a policy of no impunity. It is the right of the Syrians to incorporate these mechanisms and accountability within the framework of transitional justice.

He added: "There are many who have committed crimes against Syrians, and today they are within the Syrian framework, with Hatem Abu Shaqra being the most prominent, internationally convicted." However, both the international and local frameworks are still completely distant from implementing accountability mechanisms and following a policy of no impunity, and the double standards in dealing continue.

Transitional justice is a national necessity

Researcher Khaled Jabr confirmed that with the fall of Assad regime, it would have been more appropriate to activate a specific temporal mechanism to hold perpetrators of violations and crimes accountable, by applying the framework of national law and relying on international law.

Pointing out that the national framework begins with activating courts to hold the perpetrators accountable, and in some decrees, there was an activation of the transitional justice mechanism, but it focused only on the violations committed by the fallen regime's forces, which is not enough.

 Syria needs to expand the mechanism of transitional justice and activate the policy of accountability, and international organizations should play a significant role in this" The international law researcher, Khaled Jabr, concluded his talk by saying: "There are crimes that shame humanity, but those involved have not been held accountable; they remain mere documents, without actual accountability being applied."

ANHA