Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a serious and significant dimension of the conflict in Syria. The Syria Justice and Accountability Center (SJAC) [12] recognizes the unique challenges this presents and is prioritizing training and documentation around SGBV. Documenting these crimes is important, but unfortunately they are especially difficult to prosecute. The standard of evidence to hold perpetrators accountable often requires medical and legal expertise. Testimony and prosecution require the overcoming of stigma and social pressures.
Evidence of SGBV is emerging in Syria. A chilling report by Human Rights Watch [13] last June described the regime’s rampant use of rape and other sexual violence against men, women, and boys in and around the city of Homs, including first person accounts from survivors. Also notable is a recent International Rescue Committee report [14] that cited fear of rape as a primary reason Syrian families fled the country. The report drew global media attention and was picked up in newspapers from Los Angeles, to London, to Istanbul. In February, the US State Department went on the record [15] noting the gravity of this problem.
The number of first-person written records, videos of survivor accounts, and third-person witness retellings of SGBV in Syria are growing. These reports help spread awareness about the nature and scope of violations. The organization Women Under Siege [16] draws on social media sites including Youtube and Twitter in order to aggregate publicly available information [17] on such crimes, then translates and analyzes the reports. These kinds of accounts and documentation are vital. They establish a general recognition that rape and other crimes are occurring. Moreover, publicly exposing this violence gives solidarity to survivors, helps reduce the stigma associated with the crimes, and encourages others who have experienced similar violence to speak out. Such attention could also dissuade others from committing acts of SGBV.
But more is needed. In general, reports and documentation of SGBV in Syria are “unverified.” That means that some material, while authentic, is difficult to reliably corroborate and includes individual accounts, anecdotes, anonymous reports, and videos with little context. Documentation aimed at producing court-admissible evidence could entail forensic work, professional medical and psychological reports, and systematic documentation that can establish the prevalence of SGBV within a given area over time. Timing is also important, as it becomes more difficult to gather forensic evidence as time passes.
Some of these challenges can be met by mobilizing health workers to train those documenting SGBV. Physicians for Human Rights [18] (PHR) is a group of medical professionals working to apply their medical and forensic skills to fight human rights violations. PHR trains [19] human rights workers and investigators to help them produce high quality documentation and evidence.
Successful prosecution of SGBV perpetrators also means overcoming discrimination and antagonism. Insofar as discriminatory laws and gender-biased norms were social facts before the outbreak of violence in Syria, such realities will frustrate efforts to seek post-conflict justice. However, public awareness campaigns that expose the scope of SGBV can help in this respect. In any transitional justice framework, charges of rape, sexual assault, threatened sexual violence, and other SGBV must be prosecuted and perpetrators held accountable.
In our ongoing efforts supporting the documentation of SGBV, SJAC is supported by our Board Chair Laila Alodaat, a Syrian lawyer and human rights expert. Alodaat has lectured on SGBV and has been involved in the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross for over a decade. She is providing valuable assistance in the our efforts to reach out to NGOs and Syrians to train and collaborate in the documentation of SGBV.
This blog originally appeared in the SJAC blog, http://www.