Towards accountability and justice to end impunity in Syria

We, the undersigning organisations, welcome the French prosecutor's decision to issue  arrest warrants against three senior Syrian security officers: first and foremost Major General Ali Mamlouk, the Director of the Syrian National Security Bureau, Major General Jamil Al Hassan, the Head of Air Intelligence Branch and Abdel Salam Mahmoud, the Head of the Air Force Intelligence Interrogative Branch. We call upon the international community to support the initiatives of countries such as France and Germany which enable victims and/or those legally representing them to seek accountability for perpetrators and to reach justice. We also call for support for efforts to launch a genuine accountability process under international supervision and that guarantees and works towards establishing sustainable peace in Syria.

The negotiations and political process in Geneva will not be able to establish a sustainable peace for any future state in Syria without a genuine accountability process and revealing the fate of Syria's disappeared is at its core. Therefore, we believe that it is our duty and the duty of countries that believe in human rights to prioritise enabling victims to reach justice and ensure there is no impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed in Syria up to this day.

Today, we reap the benefits of cooperation between families of victims with Syrian and international human rights organizations, as well as national judicial authorities, which has resulted in arrest warrants against a number of senior figures within the Syrian security apparatus. We reaffirm our belief in the possibility of justice and renew our readiness to work and cooperate on documenting violations and building judicial files with international and local organizations, as well as international and domestic judicial authorities in countries of asylum among others. We do this in order to secure the rights of victims and place criminal accountability as an indispensable condition for building the future of Syria.

We renew today - and more than ever - our emphasis on the need to:

• Allow international litigation to be made available in third countries to victims of crimes committed in Syria through a non-politicized process of prosecution.

• Provide financial and technical support to the relevant apparatuses to investigate international crimes and to facilitate access and representation of Syrians residing in other countries so they can be witnesses or victims before the judicial authorities in countries of litigation.

• Support crime documentation and litigation efforts with victim groups and their families in the fight against impunity.

• Support victim and community initiatives that seek justice for victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria and their families.

• Support and ensure the work of the independent and impartial mechanisms and commissions of the UN and international organizations and enable them to exercise their functions effectively in order to follow up and prosecute those involved in major crimes committed in Syria since 2011 under international law.

• Support all efforts at the international level to launch a transparent and impartial accountability and justice process under international supervision and guarantees that works to establish a sustainable peace in Syria.

12 November 2018

Signatory Organizations

1. AlKawakibi Organisation for Human Rights

2. Aso Organisation for Combating Violence Against Women

3. Association of Detainees and the Missing in Sednaya Prison

4. Badael

5. Basamat for Development

6. Baytna Syria

7. Caesar Fmilies Association

8. Center for Civil Society and democracy

9. Dawlaty

10. Democratic Republic Studies Center

11. Fraternity Foundation for Human Rights-Birati

12. Freie Deutsch Syrische Gesellschaft e.V in Hamburg

13. Gulf Center for Human Rights

14. Human Help Community

15. Human Rights Organization in Syria

16. Hurras Network

17. Kawakbi Center for Transitional Justice and Human Rights

18. Kesh Malek

19. Kurdish Committee for Human Rights/Observer

20. Local Development and Small Projects Support

21. Mena Rights Group

22. Mouwatana for Civil Action

23. Musawat

24. Peace and Civil Society Center

25. PÊL- Civil Waves

26. Pro Justice

27. Rethink Rebuild Society

28. Save the Rest Campaign

29. Shaml Coalition

30. Syrian Activists for Monitoring

31. Syrian Archive

32. Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression

33. Syrian Center for Statistics and Research

34. Syrian Civil Defense - White Helmets

35. Syrian Feminist Lobby

36. Syrian Forum

37. Syrian League for Citizenship

38. Syrian Legal Development Programme

39. Syrian Legal Network -NL

40. Syrian Network for Human Rights

41. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

42. Syrians for Truth and Justice

43. Syrian Women’s Network

44. The Day After

45. Urnammu

46. Violations Documentation Center

47. Women Now