At its second meeting, held in April 2012 in Istanbul, the Group of Friends of the Syrian People identified a need for an independent, multilateral institution to respond to increasing reports of massive rights violations and potential international crimes in Syria. Syrian activists and international experts refined this vision in subsequent gatherings. As a result, in 2013 the Syrian Justice and Accountability Center registered as a nonprofit based in the Hague and established an office in Washington, DC. It is an NGO that works to ensure that human rights violations in Syria are comprehensively documented and preserved for use in transitional justice and peacebuilding.
Aims
Strives to prevent impunity, promote redress, and facilitate principled reform.
Description of Activities
- Collects documentation of violations from all available sources, stores it in a secure database, catalogues it according to human rights standards, and analyses it using legal expertise and big data methodologies.
- Collects documentation from individuals and organisations working to document violations in Syria, accessed primarily through its team in Syria. SJAC also collects documentation from public sources, the internet and social media, using technology tools to ensure comprehensive capture.
- Supports documenters inside Syria, providing them with resources and technical guidance, and coordinates with other actors
- Produces a number of resources concerned with transitional justice.
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