For years, UN human rights our bodies have been documenting, monitoring and publishing studies on abuses, and bringing Syria’s dire human rights report to the world’s consideration.
The autumn of Bashar al Assad in December 2024 was largely greeted with euphoria by the Syrian folks, however pictures of a whole bunch of individuals pouring into the infamous Sednaya Jail, desperately trying to find pals or family members, and testimony from former prisoners, recounting the sadism and torture they endured, was a vivid reminder of the atrocities dedicated beneath the previous regime.
Since 2016, the Worldwide Neutral and Unbiased Mechanism (IIIM), has been amassing an unlimited assortment of proof, aiming to make sure that these accountable are finally held accountable.
Within the eight years since, constantly denied entry to Syria, they’ve needed to work from outdoors the nation.
Nonetheless, every part modified after the speedy collapse of the regime. Simply days later the pinnacle of the IIIM, Robert Petit, was capable of journey to Syria the place he met members of the de facto authorities. Throughout this historic go to, he made a degree of emphasizing the significance of preserving proof earlier than it is misplaced without end.
UN Information interviewed Mr. Petit from his places of work in Geneva and commenced by asking him to explain the reactions of the Syrians he met throughout his go to.
This interview has been edited for readability and size.
Robert Petit: It was a sobering and emotional time. I skilled a mixture of hope and pleasure, in addition to concern and nervousness, and quite a lot of disappointment from the households of prisoners who had been killed.
However there was undoubtedly a way of change throughout the board. It is my private hope that the aspirations of Syrians shall be absolutely realized with the assistance of the worldwide neighborhood.
UN Information: What was the aim of your go to, and was it profitable?
Robert Petit: As with many of the world, we have been shocked on the velocity with which the regime crumbled, though in hindsight we should always have realized that the foundations have been utterly eroding for years.
We needed to shortly begin occupied with handle this new scenario: for the primary time in eight years, we’ve the possibility to actually fulfill our mandate.
The primary objective of the go to was to begin participating diplomatically and clarify to the brand new authorities what our function is and what we wish to do and get permission to take action. We discovered them to be receptive.
We formally requested permission to ship groups to work and discharge our mandate in Syria. That was again on December 21. We’re nonetheless ready for the reply. I’ve no purpose to consider that we are going to not be granted permission. I believe it is a matter of processes fairly than willingness, and we’re hoping that inside days we’ll get that permission after which we’ll deploy as quickly as we are able to.
© IIIM Syria
Paperwork are piled up at a court docket home in Damascus, Syria, which was visited by the pinnacle of the IIIM, Robert Petit.
UN Information: How laborious was it to gather proof throughout the years that you simply have been denied entry to the nation?
Robert Petit: Syrian civil society and Syrians basically have, since March 2011, been the perfect documenters of their very own victimization. They collected an unlimited amount of proof of crimes, typically at nice threat the price of their very own lives.
Yearly since we have been created, we tried to entry Syria. We couldn’t get permission, however we developed shut relationships with a few of these civil society actors, media stakeholders and people who collected credible proof, as did different establishments.
We collected over 284 terabytes of information through the years to construct instances and help 16 totally different jurisdictions in prosecuting, investigating and prosecuting their very own instances.
Now we doubtlessly have entry to a wealth of contemporary proof of crimes, and we’re hoping to have the ability to exploit that chance very quickly.
UN Information: Through the Assad years, although, you had no assure that anybody could be dropped at justice.
Robert Petit: Our mandate has been very clear from the start: put together instances to help present and future jurisdiction. And that is what we have been doing. There was all the time a hope that there was going to be some type of tribunal, or complete justice for the crimes in Syria. In anticipation of that, we’ve been constructing instances and we hope to construct a wealth of understanding of the scenario and the proof that might help these instances.
On the similar time, we have been supporting 16 jurisdictions everywhere in the world prosecuting these instances, and I am very glad to say that we’ve been capable of help over virtually 250 of these investigations and prosecutions and can proceed to take action.
UN Information: Throughout your journey you mentioned there is a small window of alternative to safe websites and the fabric they maintain. Why?
Robert Petit: Syria’s state equipment functioned for years, so there shall be quite a lot of proof, however issues go lacking, they get destroyed and disappear. So, there’s a time subject.
UN Information: Are the de facto authorities in Syria serving to you to safe proof?
Robert Petit: We had messaging from the caretaker authorities that they have been acutely aware of the significance of preserving all this proof. The actual fact is that they’ve been in management for barely six weeks, so there are clearly quite a lot of competing priorities.
I believe the scenario in Damascus is comparatively good in that quite a lot of the websites, the primary ones a minimum of, are secured. Exterior of Damascus, I believe the scenario is much more fluid and doubtless worse.
UN Information: When Volker Türk, the UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights, visited Syria in January he referred to as for truthful, neutral justice within the wake of the tip of the Assad regime. However he additionally mentioned that the extent of atrocity crimes “beggars perception”. Do you personally assume that justice fairly than revenge, in a spot the place folks have been so badly brutalized, is feasible or probably?
Robert Petit: That is for the Syrians to reply themselves and hopefully be heard and supported in what they are going to outline as justice for them and for what they’ve suffered.
If persons are given the hope that there shall be in place a system that can deal pretty and transparently with a minimum of these most answerable for the atrocities, it can give them hope and endurance.
I believe it’s doable. I’ve labored in sufficient of those conditions to know that a wide range of issues may be executed to handle these very complicated conditions, however it should be Syria-led, they usually should have the help of the worldwide neighborhood.
UN Information: Do you envisage that prison trials would happen in Syria at a nationwide stage or at a global stage, for instance on the Worldwide Prison Courtroom?
Robert Petit: Once more, it can rely upon what Syrians need. You are speaking about actually 1000’s of perpetrators, and a complete state equipment devoted to the fee of mass atrocities. It’s an unimaginable problem to outline what accountability means.
For my part, these most accountable, the architects of the system, should be held criminally accountability. For everybody else, the methods a post-conflict society tackles the problem varies.
Rwanda, for instance, tried to make use of conventional types of dispute decision to attempt 1.2 million perpetrators over a decade. Others, like Cambodia, merely attempt to bury the previous, and fake it by no means occurred.
One of the best resolution is the one which Syrians will determine for themselves.
