Will You Help Us Grow in 2023?

You can help us expand our impact in 2023. December 31 is the last day to make tax deductible charitable contributions for 2022. If you are planning to make a year-end gift, would you consider making a donation to Synergy for Justice as part of your year-end giving?

We are working hard to expand our work to more countries, and create new partnerships with more local organisations that are working to hold perpetrators accountable and care for survivors of arbitrary detention, torture and conflict-related sexual violence.

Specifically our goals for next year include:

1. Increasing Support for Doctors Working with Child Survivors of Torture and Sexual Violence

We want to provide more support and mentoring for the doctors who have just been trained to forensically document child cases of torture and sexual violence. This project has had an incredible impact on doctors ability to care for child survivors and document their cases, but it is emotionally draining and difficult work.

Synergy's support for doctors will include one-on-one mentoring and oversight by a Synergy expert as they begin to document their first child survivor cases. The Synergy expert, with consent of the survivor, can monitor the medical documentation, sitting in on the physical and psychological examination. The Synergy expert will then provide feedback to the doctor related to their interview techniques, informed consent process, the physical examination and the psychological examination, and their ability to build rapport with the survivor.

2. Expanding Forensic Medical Documentation to Germany

We are also planning to expand our forensic medical documentation programme to Germany, where there is a large Syrian diaspora needing documentation and follow-up support. The most active universal jurisdiction efforts related to Syria have been in Germany, and there are more than 800,000 Syrians residing in Germany, most of whom arrived over the past decade and many of whom are survivors of torture. There have been numerous reported cases of torture survivors encountering the perpetrators in their communities.

To support justice and accountability efforts against Syrian perpetrators of torture and sexual violence, Synergy will identify partners in Germany to expand its network of documenters and build on the sustained efforts of those prosecuting Syrian perpetrators of torture and sexual violence. Synergy will train doctors on completing medical evaluations using the Istanbul Protocol to contribute evidence that will support criminal investigations and trials of perpetrators of torture and sexual violence.

3. Expanding Support for Women-led Justice Organisations to Iraq

We have identified a women-led justice organisation in Iraq that we want to support through organisational development. They are advocating for greater legal protection for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, and they need support to reach their full potential. The organisational support will include a full scale assessment of their operational and programmatic implementation. The assessment will allow Synergy and the organisation to develop a set of milestones that both Synergy and the organisation can work towards to strengthen the organisation. Synergy will provide tailored training and mentoring to the staff based on the assessment and will support the women-led organisation in achieving its mission in Iraq.

4. The Stigma Toolkit Development

We want to expand our work with the Stigma Toolkit so that we can pilot it more robustly. We’d like to do comprehensive pilots in two countries. Synergy’s Stigma Toolkit is the result of years of research on the experiences of sexual violence survivors with justice systems around the world. We found that stigma is built into legal systems and affects the experiences of survivors and the outcomes of sexual violence cases.

We used this research to create a framework for assessing embedded stigma in legal systems and developing action plans to move the system toward survivor-centric and trauma-informed approaches that eliminate stigma and reduce harm to survivors. When implemented, these practices will result in more predictable and rigorous justice processes that hold perpetrators accountable and reduce impunity.

In addition to increasing the scope of our pilots of the Stigma Toolkit we would like to expand the amount of resources available in the toolkit. Two of these resources are:

• A Stigma Guide for Prosecutors. This resource will help prosecutors be aware of stigma and ensure they are trained to address potential stigma when building their cases and challenge stigmatising narratives in courtroom proceedings.
• A Survivor-centred, Trauma-informed, Non-stigmatising Conflict Related Sexual Violence Adjudication Bench-book for Judges. This reference book for judges will help them recognise stigma in courtroom proceedings, interact with survivors using trauma-informed methods, and provide guidance on minimising the impact of stigma.

Will you help us expand so we can equip justice actors to hold perpetrators accountable and support more survivors of arbitrary detention, torture, and sexual violence?

Here are some examples of how our money is disbursed:

• A legal awareness session that reaches 10 women and increases their knowledge about their rights, builds their confidence, and creates a supportive network for the women: $500 for a two-day session.
• Three mentoring sessions with an international expert for one Syrian woman lawyer to pursue accountability efforts on behalf of Syrian women and girl survivors of human rights violations: $900
• A community dialogue meeting (with community leaders, religious leaders, women professionals, survivors of human rights violations) on transitional justice and the role of women in the transitional justice process to collect the voices of women and draft recommendations that will be presented to decision makers: $550 (for a meeting with 10 people).
• Support for one survivor of torture and/or sexual violence to receive seven psychosocial support one-on-one consultations with a trained professional: $300/survivor
• Support for 10 survivors to receive legal counselling on issues related to their legal status (as asylum seekers, or refugees, or permanent residents) in Turkey and civil status (marriage/birth certificates/divorce/death certificates): $60/month

Happy New Year from all of us at Synergy for Justice!

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