Human Rights Watch affirmed on Monday, 8 December, that the transitional government in Syria has taken “positive steps” in the areas of justice, transparency, and rights, including adopting a new constitutional declaration, holding indirect parliamentary elections, and initial steps to ensure accountability for abuses committed by the former regime.
In its report issued on the first anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime, the organization said these steps have been undermined and tarnished by “repeated failures to prevent widespread atrocities by government forces,” calling for outstanding concerns on security sector reform, accountability, and inclusion of all segments of society to be addressed.
The organization said it has documented “violations committed by government forces and allied groups that amount to war crimes on the Syrian coast (western Syria) and in Suwayda province (southern Syria).”
It also pointed to reports indicating that “the government is not preventing abuses against minorities in Syria by groups sympathetic to the current government.”
“The failure or unwillingness of the current Syrian authorities to rein in these abuses and genuinely hold perpetrators to account undermines confidence in their ability to maintain peace and security and protect rights,” the organization said.
It noted that the transitional authorities’ efforts to integrate various armed factions into Syria’s official army and security forces “have led to the incorporation of some units without proper vetting, increasing the likelihood of abuses and lack of discipline.”
Gaps in the mandate of the Commission for the Missing
Human Rights Watch praised “Syria’s commitment to investigating atrocities committed on the coast and in Suwayda,” stressing that the creation of the National Commission for the Missing constitutes “an important step” toward accountability for past violations.
However, the organization said this step is “insufficient despite being positive,” pointing to limitations in the Commission’s mandate to crimes committed by the Assad government, especially as developments on the ground underscore the urgent need for a comprehensive transitional justice framework that is publicly announced and agreed upon.
It also highlighted concerns about the government’s ability to carry out credible investigations and hold senior officials to account, adding that Syria’s criminal justice framework contains “serious gaps that cannot be overlooked in ongoing trials, including the absence of accountability for command responsibility.”
While transitional contexts sometimes require reforms to be implemented gradually, Human Rights Watch stressed that this does not apply to issues affecting fundamental rights, such as violations committed by armed forces.
The organization said that victims and relatives of the missing “feel frustrated, seven months after the Commission’s establishment, due to the absence of institutional channels to engage with it and the lack of transparency about its operations.”
According to Human Rights Watch, a comprehensive justice process “requires domestic judicial and institutional reforms that guarantee the independence of accountability processes, ensure that the judiciary and all relevant government institutions comply with human rights and fair trial standards, and align key legislation with international law.”
The organization also underlined the importance of the Syrian government drawing on the expertise of international institutions specialized in the search for the missing.
Insufficient measures
Human Rights Watch said that the measures taken by the transitional authorities to guarantee a political transition are “insufficient” to ensure Syrians’ fair and adequate right to participate in political life.
It pointed out that the constitutional declaration announced by the government “lacks the necessary safeguards to protect judicial independence and the right to political participation” and that it “entrenched executive control over the other branches of government.”
The organization stressed that the electoral system used by the government to hold legislative elections “carries major risks of political manipulation in the design of the internal system.”
Despite the openness the government has shown toward engaging with international and independent humanitarian organizations and allowing civil society to operate more independently, Human Rights Watch said there are still difficulties in securing registration approvals, a requirement that aid be channeled through the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, and other bureaucratic delays.
Enormous challenges to the political transition
The United Nations Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, Najat Rochdi, said “enormous challenges” still confront an inclusive political transition in Syria, efforts to address the country’s past, and the rebuilding of its economy.
During a UN Security Council session on the situation in Syria, Rochdi expressed hope that achievements made at the international level would be matched “by deeper engagement at the domestic level to ensure stability and social cohesion.”
In the session, which was carried by the UN’s official website on 19 November, she said that military operations and Israeli incursions into Syrian territory “continue to endanger civilians, fuel regional tensions, undermine a fragile security environment, and threaten the political transition process.”
Rochdi noted that tensions, lawlessness, and some acts of violence continue in several parts of the country, along with intermittent exchanges of fire between forces along front lines.
She stressed that “the fragility of security is a reminder that lasting peace in Syria depends on comprehensive security sector reform and credible disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programs.”
Rochdi welcomed the UN Security Council’s adoption of Resolution 2799, which lifted sanctions on Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and Interior Minister Anas Khattab.
She also referred to the United States’ decision to extend for an additional six months most exemptions from the Caesar Act’s restrictions, stressing the need to lift mandatory secondary sanctions, which she said are “a major obstacle to enabling reconstruction and reviving Syria’s devastated economy.”
Rochdi underscored the need to make progress on accountability, transitional justice, and the missing, pointing to the first ongoing trial related to “crimes” committed during the coastal events last March.
“Syrians must feel that serious steps are being taken to end impunity, past and present, and to prevent its recurrence,” she said.
She also referred to the incomplete process of forming a transitional People’s Assembly and called for transparency and fair representation for all sects and Syrian women.
The Deputy Special Envoy stressed the importance of inclusivity in drafting a permanent constitution, saying that “drafting a new social contract among Syrians should be a source of peace and unity.”
She called on the Syrian authorities and civil society to draw on lessons learned and the achievements of the political transition so far, emphasizing that the current level of political inclusiveness should be “the floor of this transition, not its ceiling.”
Rochdi stressed the need to establish concrete mechanisms to translate commitments to implementing the 10 March Agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian government into action, in terms of military and political integration, and in a spirit of consensus between the two sides.
She considered that the intermittent “hostilities” along the line of contact are “a reminder of the need to preserve the ceasefire.”
Rochdi also called for progress in implementing the Suwayda roadmap, noting that last week’s clashes “show that trust is extremely low.”
She urged all parties to take concrete steps to move forward, especially initial confidence-building measures, particularly regarding detainees and abductees, and the restoration of state services.
The Deputy Special Envoy stressed the importance of a successful political transition for the Syrian people, men and women alike, “who have struggled equally for the future and stability of their country.”
She expressed her hope for further cooperation with all concerned parties in support of “building a sovereign, stable, united, and prosperous Syria that meets the aspirations of all its citizens.”
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