{"id":1591,"date":"2014-02-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/?p=1591","title":{"rendered":"Establishing a Special Syrian Court and a Unified Database of Human Rights Violations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nFinal Statement: <\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Establishing a Syrian <\/strong>Special <\/strong>Court and a Unified Database of Human Rights Violations”<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n On February 6-7, 2014, representatives
\nof Syrian judicial and legal councils, in addition to the Syrian human
\nrights and civil society organizations, gathered at a conference in
\nIstanbul, Turkey at the invitation of the Syrian Commission for
\nTransitional Justice and the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies.
\nThe conference, entitled “Establishing a Unified Database of Human
\nRights Violations in Syria” was attended by Dr. Ahmad Tou’ma, prime
\nminister of the Syrian Interim Government, and Judge Fayez Ad-Dahy, the
\nminister of Justice.\n<\/p>\n

\n Attendees discussed the necessary
\nmechanisms for supporting coordination among the human rights and civil
\nsociety organizations in order to build a central database of human
\nrights violations committed in Syria, as well as means for bolstering
\ndocumentation of extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced
\ndisappearances. The central database will be used during the
\npost-conflict transition for memorialization, reparations, and as
\nforensic evidence prior to the establishment of special courts and other
\ntransitional justice programs.\n<\/p>\n

\n Attendees also participated in a
\ndiscussion on the proposal of the Syrian Commission for Transitional
\nJustice to form a Special Syrian Court for prosecuting perpetrators of
\nwar crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria.\n<\/p>\n

\n It will be impossible to open a new
\npage in Syria without holding criminals accountable. Failing to
\nprosecute perpetrators of crimes against humanity will open a door for
\nvengeance, continuing the cycle of impunity and violence, and will
\nprevent the establishment of new rule based on justice and quality.\n<\/p>\n

\n Conference participants confirmed the
\nimportance of forming a court as soon as possible to utilize the
\navailable forensic evidence of crimes. Attendees also discussed various
\nmethods of establishing a Syrian court and the forms the court could
\ntake. Ultimately participants found that the most suitable option is to
\nestablish a Special Syrian Court through the United Nations General
\nAssembly. This Syrian court will include Syrian judges but allow for the
\npresence of international judges in order to provide technical
\nexpertise. This is the option that we in the Syrian Commission on
\nTransitional Justice will actively seek for the Syrian people. The model
\nwe are trying to establish in Syria is similar to Sierra Leone’s model,
\nhowever we will follow the same steps by which the Cambodian court was
\nformed. The Cambodian court was the only special mixed court to be
\nestablished by the General Assembly of the United Nations while all the
\nother special courts, including the special court in Lebanon, were
\nestablished by UN Security Council resolutions.\n<\/p>\n

\n Conference participants submitted and approved the following characteristics for the Syrian Special Court:\n<\/p>\n

\n–        The temporal jurisdiction of
\nthis court will start in 1970 as a symbolic gesture to criminalize the
\ndictatorship of the Al-Assad family but also to allow for the
\nprosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the
\ndeceased former president Hafez Al-Assad.\n<\/p>\n

\n–        The jurisdiction of this court,
\nwhich will function in accordance with international criminal law, in
\naddition to Syrian law, shall cover crimes of genocide, war crimes, and
\ncrimes against humanity that took place on Syrian ground, were
\nperpetrated by Syrians abroad, or were perpetrated against Syrians
\noutside of Syria.\n<\/p>\n

\n–        The mechanisms of selecting the
\nnational and international judges shall be open and transparent to
\nensure the selection of the most qualified judges.\n<\/p>\n

\n–        The Syrian Interim Government
\nwill issue the law for establishing the court before being referred to
\nthe Secretariat of the United Nations and then to the General Assembly
\nof the United Nations for voting and approval.\n<\/p>\n

\n The following organizations participated in the conference, approved
\nthe final statement, and supported its recommendation for
\nimplementation by the Syrian Commission for Transitional Justice:\n<\/p>\n

\n–        The Syrian Commission for Transitional Justice (SCTJ).\n<\/p>\n

\n–        Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies (DCHRS).\n<\/p>\n

\n–        Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).\n<\/p>\n

\n–        Kurdish Organization for Human Rights in Syria (DAD).\n<\/p>\n

\n–        Center for Civil Society and Democracy in Syria.\n<\/p>\n

\n–        Syrian Center for Statistics and Research.\n<\/p>\n

\n–        Law Office for Documenting Human Rights Violations in Syria – RAQEEB.\n<\/p>\n

\n–        Syrian Human Rights Organization (SAWASIAH).\n<\/p>\n

\n–        Syrian commission for Human Rights in Free Syria.\n<\/p>\n

\n–        Syrian Institute for Justice.\n<\/p>\n

\n–        Free Syrian Lawyers Association (FSLA).\n<\/p>\n

\n–        Aleppo Free Lawyers.\n<\/p>\n

\n–        Civil Assembly of Syrian Lawyer’s.\n<\/p>\n

\n–       Syrian Judicial Council.\n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On February 6-7, 2014, representatives of Syrian judicial and legal councils, in addition to the Syrian human rights and civil society organizations, gathered at a conference in Istanbul, Turkey at the invitation of the Syrian Commission for Transitional Justice and the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}