Syrians’ hopes for a better future depend on justice for the disappeared, Human Rights Council hears

This article is published in association with United Nations.

The people of Syria’s painful search for a peaceful future took centre stage at the UN on Wednesday as one leading representative of the families of the country’s forcibly disappeared spoke of the continuing pain of not knowing their fate.

Yasmen Almashan, a founding member of the Caesar Families Association, lost five of her six brothers between 2012 and 2014 during the early years of the Syrian civil war.

Today, Ms. Almashan advocates for the truth about what happened to Syria’s more than 130,000 missing persons. This quest would be greatly helped by the creation of a national transitional justice policy for Syria, by the country’s caretaker authorities, she told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“Participation of victims is key for transition justice programmes to succeed and reinforce a culture of human rights in countries which suffer from dictatorships, or which go through transition periods,” she said.

“The victims can facilitate contacts between parts of society and assure an environment of peace and justice in Syria,” she insisted.

Ms. Almashan has previously explained how her second brother was arrested in March 2012 and then tortured in a detention centre. He was identified in the Caesar Files – named after a former Syrian military photographer codenamed Caesar.

It was in part thanks to the Syrian NGO’s persistent lobbying that the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 77/301 in June 2023, establishing the Independent Institution for the Missing in Syria and ensuring victim participation in its work.

Addressing past atrocities 

Spearheading renewed calls for transitional justice, UN human rights chief Volker Türk welcomed efforts by Member States to address past atrocities to benefit future generations.

In Guatemala, victim-driven coalitions have secured the conviction of 31 military and paramilitary personnel for crimes against humanity and genocide.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also stressed the importance of an inclusive approach to transitional justice which should be victim-centered, inclusive, gender-responsive and innovative.

Reminding the Council that 2024 saw the highest number of active conflicts since the Second World War, Mr. Türk also welcomed Colombia’s efforts to resolve animosity between parties formerly involved in the country’s decades-long civil war. Measures include offering psychosocial support for victims, addressing land distribution problems, promoting rural development and restoring indigenous territories’ ecosystems.

In Kenya, survivors of sexual violence can advocate for justice through a national network for reparations, the High Commissioner added, while in Chad, victims last year received reparations thanks to the perseverance of civil society groups.

UN Human Rights Council/Marie Bambi

Sofija Todorović, Programme Director, Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR), Serbia, addresses the Human Rights Council meeting on transitional justice.

Empowering young people

Echoing that message, Sofija Todorovic, Programme Director of Serbian NGO Youth Initiative for Human Rights, insisted that young people should not be left out of conversations about building a more just future for their countries.

“It is our duty to stand behind them. We must equip them with the tools and opportunities to create the future they deserve. The rest, they will do themselves,” Ms. Todorovic said.

Genocide prevention calls

Also at the Council on Wednesday, UN human rights deputy chief Nada Al-Nashif warned Member States that international law principles protecting humanity from atrocities were under threat. 

“We are living through dangerous times as deep divisions and extreme views feed both conflict and violence” in several regions of the world, Ms. Al-Nashif said.  

Genocide is preceded by “clear patterns of discrimination of exclusion and incitement to hatred based on race, ethnicity, religion or other characteristics,” she said.

Strained global norms

“The global norms that protect us all, starting with the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are under unprecedented strain,” she continued, stressing that the UN was set up in the aftermath of the Holocaust to avoid another genocide.

Arms sales and transfers, the provision of military, logistical or financial support to parties to conflicts violating international law are “obvious examples” of indicators that states may be contributing to such crimes, she stressed.

“Genocide happens when humanity’s moral compass fails, when hateful ideologies proliferate, and when the dehumanization of an entire group of people is allowed to take root and to spread,” Ms. Al-Nashif said.  

“Together, let’s move towards a world in which genocide, and other atrocity crimes are inconceivable. Or if all else fails, then they are punished.”