Equipping Justice Actors

Developing Technical Guidance for Doctors and Lawyers

The Synergy team has developed a series of technical guidance sheets to help doctors navigate the process of conducting forensic medical examinations and providing testimony in court. These guidance sheets help doctors

● Prepare for the examination

● Diagnose and document the effects of torture and sexual violence

● Collect evidence and compose their report

● Prepare to give testimony in court

Our technical guidance sheets are available for download on our resources page.

Documenting Torture and Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Cases

Synergy for Justice created and maintains best practice guidelines for forensic documentation, evidence collection, chain of custody processes for evidence, and protection of documenters in conflict zones.

Our expert team supports and mentors doctors and lawyers using the Istanbul Protocol methodology in conflict zones to conduct forensic medical documentation of torture and sexual violence cases, review each evaluation, and facilitate submission of forensic medical documentation to international justice actors.

Combatting Stigma

Synergy’s Stigma Toolkit for Justice 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.

The tool kit addresses stigma in the following areas of legal systems:

● Legislation

Addressing stigma and myths about sexual violence that are embedded in laws to ensure positive legal outcomes for survivors of torture and sexual violence.

● Access to Justice and Survivor Pathways

Understanding and removing barriers to equitable participation in the justice system created by stigma.

● Support Services

Ensuring survivors can access comprehensive support services to help them manage the challenges posed by stress, trauma, and stigma.

● Investigation

Reducing the effects of stigma on the investigation of sexual violence.

● Witness Protection

Providing for the safety, privacy, and well-being of survivors in the justice system, including shielding them from the effects of stigma.

● Medical and Forensics

Training forensic medical providers to provide survivor-centric, trauma-informed, and stigma-aware services to survivors.

● Prosecution

Dismantling misconceptions about torture and conflict-related sexual violence to hold perpetrators accountable and reduce impunity for these crimes.

● Defence

Ensuring defence counsels act in a survivor-centric and trauma-informed manner while meeting their legal obligation to aid in the perpetrator’s defence.

● Judicial Function

Educating judges about the stigma associated with sexual violence so they can ensure that judicial proceedings are impartial and trauma-informed.

Training

Synergy provides training to organisations and practitioners on a number of technical and organizational development topics.

● Forensic Medical Documentation

Using the Istanbul Protocol, we train doctorsworking in conflict areas to forensically document torture, sexual violence, and human rights abuses. We also train them on case building, evidence collection, chain of custody processes for evidence storage, and protecting documenters in conflict situations.

● Introduction to the International Human Rights Framework

Human rights defenders learn about the United Nations framework for human rights and how to use UN mechanisms to advocate for human rights and report violations, including the submission of NGO reports to treaty bodies.

● Legal Investigation of Torture

Lawyers learn how to work with doctors to conduct safe investigations and work together to expose evidence of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The course is based on the Istanbul Protocol, the official UN guidance on how to effectively conduct legal and medical investigations into allegations of torture and ill treatment.

● Case-building for International Crimes

Lawyers learn about case building for international crimes, including sessions on criminal elements, linkage, modes of liability, evidence collection and preservation, presentation of evidence in court, and examination and cross-examination of witnesses.

● Trauma-Informed Legal Services

Lawyers learn that some clients may be traumatised due to their experiences with torture, abuse, inhuman or degrading treatment, or other human rights violations while in the custody of police or as they move throughout the justice system. Lawyers learn to adopt a trauma-informed approach to their interactions, which recognises that the effects of trauma are multi-faceted and can impact individuals’ psychological well-being, physical health, spiritual beliefs, ability to care for themselves and their families, and participate in community life.

● Children and Torture

Doctors learn how to conduct forensic medical evaluations for child survivors of torture and sexual violence. They learn about physical and psychological development stages, how ACES (adverse childhood experiences) impact responses, how to interact sensitively with children, and how to reduce their anxiety during the evaluation process.

Lawyers and human rights defenders learn the key human rights instruments relating to children, the particular risks that children face in detention and other custodial settings, and how these factors affect child development. They then learn what steps are required to interact sensitively and protect the rights of children.

● First Responders Training

Community first responders learn to recognise signs and symptoms of sexual violence or trauma. They learn the core principles of Do No Harm, the risks of documentation, the importance of obtaining proper informed consent, and how to refer survivors to support services. They learn to talk about gender and gender based violence in their communities, stigma and its various forms and impacts, how to complete gender mapping to address drivers of SGBV, and develop and implement community led action plans to address stigma in their communities. This training ensures survivors receive better, more empathetic responses when they disclose their story and helps to increase support from their families and communities. When first responders are properly trained survivors receive better access into support services, treatment and care.

Contributing to International Policy and Best Practice Guidelines

Synergy directors have either drafted or directly contributed to the development of numerous best practice and global guidance documents focused on combatting sexual violence, documenting torture and war crimes, and eliminating human trafficking. 

Conducting Research

In collaboration with partner organisations, we conduct extensive research into the scale and scope of human rights violations in Syria and other countries in conflict.

Our research focuses on three key areas related to survivor experiences:

● Survivor experiences of arbitrary detention, torture, and sexual violence

● Stigma and its effects on survivors in communities

● Stigma and its impact on survivors’ experience with the justice system

Read our reports about how these issues affect men, women, and children in Syria.