The country today seems to be hanging by a thread. After the appointment of Mohammed al-Bashir as Prime Minister by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, he is awaiting the composition of his transitional government, representing or not the plurality of the Syrian people. Among the team’s major challenges, the implementation of a transitional justice process.
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If the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group triggered and led the offensive to Damascusits success is also due to the union of rebel forces from different regions and communities of the country. Together, they succeeded in closing the noose around Damascus. Once the dictator falls, everyone faces their own wounds from the past.
The urgency is therefore to prevent acts of revenge from being the spark of a civil war. “ In recent days, there have been acts of revenge that we are trying to document », notes Nour Salam. The young woman works for the Syrian NGO Baytna which tries to build intercommunity dialogue throughout the country. “ These phenomena are natural in this context, but what is important is to prevent this from spreading and degenerating into a larger conflict. During the years of the revolution, we, the civil society organizations here in Syria, never stopped working on the issue of inclusive Syrian identity. For my part, I am not pessimistic, but I feel that there is still a lot to do to implement everything we have worked on in recent yearses. »
Nour Salam lives in the town of Soueïda in the south of the country. It is the stronghold of the Druze community, a minority victim in particular of abuses committed by Islamists, but also a large protest city against the regime.
“The greatest immediate danger comes from Israel,” says activist Nour Salam
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Transitional justice
“ We will have to judge criminals from all camps, recalls Syrian lawyer Anwar al-Bunni. Because crimes were committed by forces from different communities. There is the Baath party of course, but also the Islamists, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or the Kurds of the Syrian Democratic Forces [FDS, NDLR] For example. » The FDS, with a Kurdish majority, are accused of abuses against Arab families who refused to submit to their authority in the Syrian northeast region.
Many voices from civil society are calling for reliance on the transitional justice process provided for by international law. “ There are rules to followexplains Anwar al-Bunni. We must seek to understand who committed crimes under pressure, to defend themselves or to advance their interests. On the other hand, all members of the Baath Party Bashar al-Assad are not all criminals, for example. This process is the first step towards a free and democratic Syria. »
“ What is very important is to collect and preserve evidence and documentsadds Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. I hope that the new transitional government will allow us to do our work on site with all the other commissions of inquiry. »
“ Hayat Tahrir al-Sham must share authority »
The work of justice and the establishment of a rule of law will depend a lot on the government that should be announced by the new transitional Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir. He is the former head of government of the Idlib region held by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. This technocrat therefore appears to be in line with the Islamist group, but it remains to be seen which Syrian personality he will be able to surround himself with. “ Hayat Tahrir al-Sham must share the authority to represent everyone, Kurds, Arabs, Christians, Alawites, Druze, claims Anwar al-Bunni. For now, the voice still belongs to the arms. Nobody listens to civil society. There are of course other groups that have power, but we do not want to push the country into another war between Syrians. »
The human rights defender who took refuge in Germany focused on tracking down Syrian war criminals in Europe. While waiting to participate in the justice process in Syriahe is currently trying to track the men of the regime who have disappeared in recent days: “ Sooner or later, they will reappear and surely in Europe. That day, we will be able to sue them before the European courts. »
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