Syria’s transition hinges on justice for all, UN Human Rights Council hears
Syria’s Post-Assad Transition Faces a Crossroads on Justice and Accountability
Qinilo.com – The question of whether Syria can move beyond more than a decade of civil war and systematic state repression now rests on whether its new leadership can deliver genuine accountability, inclusive governance, and structural guarantees against repetition. That was the central message delivered to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday by the independent investigators tasked with examining every alleged violation of international human rights law since the uprising of March 2011.
The stakes could hardly be higher. A country that endured over a decade of bombardment, mass detention, enforced disappearance, and economic collapse under the Assad dictatorship is attempting to rebuild its legal and civic architecture almost from scratch, while simultaneously confronting the unresolved aftermath of atrocities committed by the former regime and by various armed actors.
Institutional Progress Meets Deep-Rooted Challenges
The Commission of Inquiry on Syria acknowledged meaningful steps taken since the collapse of the Assad regime nearly two years ago. Among those steps: the creation of a legislative body and a constitutional court. Yet the investigators stressed that constructing institutions capable of protecting fundamental rights while simultaneously confronting the aftermath of mass atrocities and preventing their recurrence represents an extraordinarily complex undertaking.
The mandate given to the independent commissioners by the council covers all alleged violations dating back to March 2011, when the Assad dictatorship’s brutal suppression of popular protest ignited a civil conflict that would consume over a decade of the country’s social and economic life.
Recent Violence and the Question of Reconciliation
Commissioner Monia Ammar underscored that dealing with both historical and contemporary violence is indispensable to any credible reconciliation process. She pointed specifically to episodes of violence along the coast and in western Syria in early 2025, the outbreak of hostilities in Sweida in July 2025, and the January clashes between Government forces and the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
“Comprehensively addressing not only past but also recent violence is an essential step for reconciliation,” said Commissioner Monia Ammar.
She further noted that many hundreds of people remain reported missing, a figure that underscores how incomplete the accounting of wartime casualties still is.
The investigators welcomed the authorities’ ongoing engagement with the Commission but cautioned that the small number of trials conducted to date falls far short of what justice demands. They highlighted a catalogue of persistent human rights challenges: those resulting from Israeli military activity, insufficient accountability mechanisms, fragile civic space, the political and economic legacy of conflict, gender-based harms, continued instability in Sweida, and the post-conflict situation including detention in the northeast.
Additional concerns included reported deaths in detention, arrests of activists, persistent hate speech and online harassment, and threats of violence directed at women, with particular focus on women activists.
Israeli Military Activity on Syrian Territory
A substantial portion of the briefing was devoted to what the Commission described as an increasingly sustained and entrenched Israeli military presence on Syrian soil. Operations cited include ground incursions, patrols, raids, and searches that have triggered displacement of local populations.
As of September, Israeli forces have detained 49 individuals inside Syria, including two children, some of whom are being held incommunicado.
“We are deeply alarmed by violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by Israel on Syrian territory, which may amount to war crimes,” said Commissioner Fionnuala Ní Aoláin.
Northeast Syria: Detention Camps and Forced Transfers
The briefing also examined the situation in northeast Syria, where the Commission is investigating alleged violations during the January hostilities between the SDF and Government forces, including reported killings of detainees.
Deteriorating conditions at detention camps housing individuals with alleged ties to ISIL (also known as Da’esh) drew particular attention. The Commission renewed its call for the immediate closure of Al Rawj camp, which shelters more than 2,000 people—predominantly women and children—and urged that all foreign nationals held there be repatriated.
More than 100 foreign children remain detained in the northeast, some since 2019, raising acute questions about due process and the rights of minors held indefinitely without trial.
The Commission also expressed deep concern over what it termed a “mass forcible transfer” earlier this year, in which United States forces moved more than 5,700 men and boys to Iraq. The group reportedly encompassed over 60 nationalities, including Syrians, and the scale of the operation has drawn scrutiny over whether international legal standards governing transfer of detainees were observed.
A Role for the International Community
In closing, the Commission affirmed that the UN Human Rights Council and the broader international community bear a vital responsibility in supporting Syria’s efforts to entrench respect for human rights as a structural norm rather than a temporary aspiration. The transition, the investigators emphasized, will succeed only if it is anchored in rule of law, inclusive participation, and mechanisms that make recurrence structurally impossible.
“Syria can fulfill the aspirations of its people if it manages to break the legacies of past violence and advances solid foundations to prevent recurrence based on respect for fundamental human rights,” said Ms. Ammar, underlining commitment to support the country through its transition.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic was established by the President of the UN Human Rights Council following the unrest that began in March 2011 and led to more than a decade of war. Its commissioners are independent experts who are not UN staff and receive no salary for their work.
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