11 February 2025
Recommendations to the Foreign Ministers of EU Member States Ahead of the Syria Conference in Paris on February 13
Dear Foreign Minister,
We write to you ahead of the international conference on Syria that France will be hosting in Paris on February 13 to urge your government, other participating governments, and international institutions to support a path of respect for human rights, justice, and the fight against impunity for all Syrians through concrete commitments and actions. We also welcome the possible convening of the 9th Brussels Conference on “Supporting the future of Syria and the region” later this year.
The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024 has created a historic opportunity to advance justice and the rule of law, ensuring accountability for years of atrocity crimes and implementing governance, judicial, and security sector reforms that protect and fulfil civil, political, and socio-economic rights.
Following 13 years of war and decades of brutal authoritarianism, it is critical that transitional Syrian authorities, with the support of Syria’s regional and international partners as well as international organizations, ensure that reconstruction efforts are inclusive, enabling everyone in Syria to enjoy their fundamental rights and civil society to flourish. Syrian civil society should be extensively engaged and consulted in these efforts.
This week's international conference in Paris, as well as the upcoming 9th Brussels Conference on “Supporting the future of Syria and the region,” should be an opportunity for your government, the European Union, and other EU member states to articulate a clear strategy in support of the aspirations and the needs for rights protection expressed by many Syrian people and civil society groups and to pro-actively move in this direction.
In this regard, we wish to make specific recommendations related to five key issues: justice and accountability, sanctions, support to reconstruction and aid to civilians, human rights guarantees and protection as well as international protection for refugees and asylum seekers.
Justice and accountability
- Press Syria’s transitional authorities to urgently take steps to secure and preserve physical evidence of serious international crimes across the country – including through cooperation and engagement with international experts;
- Urgently support and bolster ongoing documentation and investigative efforts, including by increasing funding for the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) and other existing justice initiatives on Syria;
- Press transitional authorities to invite, fully cooperate with, and ensure unhindered access to independent monitors such as the IIIM, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, and the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria;
- Publicly press transitional authorities to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), give the court retroactive jurisdiction through a declaration, and align national legislation with the ICC treaty and international law; and
- Work to foster the political will needed to lay the groundwork for credible, comprehensive transitional justice and accountability processes in the long term.
Sanctions
- Review with a view towards lifting general or sectoral sanctions that negatively impact on humanitarian operations, the economic and social rights of Syrians and their access to basic services, or impact on Syrian financial institutions.
Support to reconstruction and aid to civilians
- Support reconstruction efforts with a focus on sectors that can improve economic and social rights of Syrians, including transport, electricity, health and education; Ensure that programming is transparent to the public and accompanied by due diligence and independent monitoring;
- Support the clearance and destruction of landmines and explosive remnants of war, such as cluster munition remnants, by funding and facilitating the work of clearance operators, providing training and equipment, and ensuring the provision of risk awareness and victim assistance;
- Support efforts to identify, secure and destroy stocks of internationally-prohibited weapons, such as chemical weapons, antipersonnel landmines, and cluster munitions;
- Work with UN institutions and humanitarian groups to address the dire humanitarian situation in Syria, where 16.7 million people need some form of assistance; the situation for displaced people across the country requires an urgent scale up of humanitarian assistance.
Human rights guarantees and protection
- Press transitional authorities to protect people from violence and ensure their right to live in safety; safeguard cultural and heritage sites; and address protection and safety needs of women, children, people with disabilities, older people, and other groups at risk of abuses;
- Press transitional authorities to take urgent steps to provide people released from prisons with health care, psychosocial support, and rehabilitation; safeguard their dignity; facilitate swift reunions with their families; and establish a system to track and manage prisoner releases;
- Press transitional authorities to immediately release all detainees who are not lawfully detained, ensure every remaining detainee is rapidly brought before an independent judicial body that can assess the legality and necessity of their detention, and ensure fair, impartial justice for those suspected of crimes;
- Press transitional authorities to allow independent monitors such as the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) to access all detention centers to monitor conditions and detainee well-being.
- Urgently repatriate French and other EU nationals arbitrarily detained in inhumane conditions in camps and prisons in northeast Syria, prioritizing the most vulnerable, including children and their mothers;
- Press transitional authorities to ensure that all sectors of Syrian society are involved in shaping the country’s future, including in the National Dialogue Conference; lift barriers to civil society engagement;
- Press transitional authorities to uphold fundamental rights and freedoms for all, free from discrimination, including by guaranteeing freedom of movement, assembly, and expression, refraining from arbitrary arrests or any other form of repression.
International protection for refugees and asylum seekers
- Ensure that EU countries maintain temporary protection and the legal status of Syrian refugees and asylum seekers and do not force returns until they can be voluntary, safe, and dignified, in line with international standards. Ensure that Syrians with international protection in Europe can make “go-and-see” visits to Syria without losing their legal status. Encourage Syria’s neighbors Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, to not force returns until it is clear that safe and dignified returns are possible; maintain temporary protection or other legal status of Syrian refugees and maintain support to frontline states.
The toppling of Assad's abusive government should be an opportunity for Syria’s new leadership and all international partners, including your government and the European Union, to break with decades of repression and put respect for human rights and justice for past abuses at the core of the country’s future.
Thank you for your consideration of these issues.
Sincerely,
Bruno Stagno
Chief advocacy Officer
Human Rights Watch
