Launch of the Syria Supplement to the International Protocol on Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict
Some twelve years into the Syrian conflict, sexual violence against men, women, boys and girls remains a scourge and a reminder of the enormous impunity gap for international crimes committed by all parties to the conflict since 2011.
The Syria Supplement to the second edition of the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict (IP2) presents information, guidance, and good practices for practitioners documenting and investigating conflict and atrocity-related sexual violence (CARSV) in Syria. This country guide combines findings already made about the perpetration of CARSV in Syria and new research to provide a comprehensive overview of the scale and types of CARSV criminality, as well as efforts to hold those responsible to account to date.
The Syria Supplement to the IP2 was prepared by Synergy for Justice, which – together with its Syrian partner organisations Lawyers and Doctors for Human Rights (LDHR) and the Amal Healing and Advocacy Center (AHAC) – carried out original research on CARSV in Syria and the response thereto. In addition, Synergy, LDHR, and the University of Galway conducted separate research on male sexual violence in Syria. The empirical findings of those research studies are published for the first time herein and can be found embedded throughout the chapters.
These research findings also ensure that the voices and views of Syrian survivors, as well as other Syrians striving to achieve justice and accountability for crimes of sexual violence, are amplified through this publication.
The primary audience for the Syria Supplement are those who are documenting, investigating or otherwise participating in accountability processes for CARSV in or concerning Syria. This includes members of civil society, including survivor networks and human rights organisations, legal professionals, investigators, prosecutors, judges, and other practitioners contributing to justice for Syria.
“More than 12 years into the conflict, there is still no viable recourse to justice in Syria owing to many factors, not least the total impunity for perpetrators in all parts of the country. This is compounded by lack of criminalization of many forms of sexual violence that amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide and in areas under Syrian government control a complex web of amnesties, immunities, and pardons that shield perpetrators for justice. This is why the documentation and preservation of evidence of sexual violence is critical; so that opportunities to seek justice in the future and before foreign courts abroad can be taken when they arise. The publication launched today provides a roadmap for evidence-gatherers for how to do this safely, ethically, and in line with international standards,” comments Stephanie Barbour, a Director of Synergy for Justice, an International Criminal Investigator, an Expert in Sexual Violence in Conflict and one of the Syria Supplement contributors.
The Syria Supplement is available online in both English and Arabic, and we encourage everyone involved in justice for Syria to use it to advance accountability for survivors of sexual violence and to support their needs and communities as they heal from conflict.
