A UN body that has been investigating the worst violations in Syria for the past decade is set to be renewed by the Human Rights Council this month after a Turkish bid failed to have it quashed.<\/p>\n
The fall of the Assad regime 15 months ago put Syria on a new path \u2013 including last year\u2019s landmark agreement from the Syrian government to cooperate with a decade-old UN commission of inquiry documenting serious violations in the country.<\/p>\n
The United Nations Human Rights Council, which is currently meeting in Geneva this month, is set to renew the commission for another year at the end of the session. While Syria has given the green light under certain conditions, a surprise move from Turkey initially threatened to derail the process.<\/p>\n
Moving away from pariah status<\/p>\n
As the new authorities in Damascus gain international legitimacy, they also want an end to the pariah status long held by the Assad regime. That includes moving away from intense UN scrutiny that has loomed over the country.<\/p>\n
But pressure from civil society remains high. Local and international organisations are still sceptical about the new government\u2019s capacity to investigate violations committed under its own watch, despite initiatives launched to ensure justice for current and past violations. Investigations into multiple attacks against minorities over the last year have stalled.<\/p>\n
In March 2025, the Syrian authorities launched a probe following a series of massacres carried out in Latakia and Tartus governorates, where between 1,000 and 2,000 people \u2013 mostly Alawites \u2013 were killed during clashes between government-aligned forces and Assad-loyalist militias. Hundreds more have been killed in attacks against Druze, Christian and Alawite communities in Sweida and other parts of the country\u2019s south.<\/p>\n
More recently, Kurds have been targeted in Damascus and in the northeast, where a government led-offensive forced a retreat of Kurdish control over the semi-autonomous region.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a year, and in many of these cases there have been no high-ranking officials held to account,\u201d Mayssa Achek, international advocacy officer at the Cairo Institute of Human Rights, tells Geneva Solutions.<\/p>\n
The UN has been given access to investigate some of these events. Following a visit to the country, the Human Rights Council-backed commission of inquiry said it had \u201cfound clear patterns of targeting based on religious affiliation, ethnicity, age, and gender\u201d \u2013 violations it said may amount to war crimes and even crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n
The experts further noted that \u201ctraining, vetting and lustration mechanisms for security personnel remain insufficient while the responsibilities of senior officials and commanders remain unaddressed\u201d.<\/p>\n
A compromise under strain<\/p>\n
The Syrian delegation negotiated with the European-led group penning the draft, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Netherlands, for the terms of the commission of inquiry to be reviewed.<\/p>\n
According to a draft, seen by Geneva Solutions, the investigators would be required to \u201cwork in a manner that complements national efforts\u201d and provide these domestic mechanisms with assistance. The commission would still maintain its independence to investigate all violations in Syria, including those of the current government. \u201cThat\u2019s what gives it its credibility,\u201d one diplomatic source in Geneva said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. \u201cBut it also lends the government credibility for an independent UN body to tell the world they are cooperating.\u201d<\/p>\n
The resolution was also moved from agenda item 4, reserved for the worst government offenders, to the less charged item 2 \u2013 a diplomatic recognition of the Syrian government\u2019s willingness to cooperate with the UN system.<\/p>\n
Still, civil society is wary of how the compromise is phrased. \u201cThere is a lack of clarity as to whether some requests are on top of the commission\u2019s original mandate or if they are restrictive,\u201d Achek says. \u201cThat leaves the government room for interpretation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then came Turkey. In a move that surprised observers, Ankara \u2013 itself part of the core group \u2013 withdrew its support for the initiative during consultations last week, calling the commission irrelevant at a council meeting on Friday and instead pushing for it to be replaced by a technical cooperation, less scrutiny-heavy mission. Turkey had floated the idea before, but Syria\u2019s own acquiescence to the commission, many thought, had quieted that push.<\/p>\n
Achek, who attended the consultations, says Ankara appeared largely isolated in its opposition, given Syria\u2019s show of support for the mechanism. Saad Boroud, a high-ranking Syrian official from Damascus, was even sent to Geneva to represent the country at the discussions. Others who have traditionally opposed the commission, like China and Russia, also appeared to back the consensus.<\/p>\n
Ankara finally walked back its opposition and agreed to support the text in exchange for a minor change to better highlight the commission\u2019s work on technical cooperation.<\/p>\n
While Turkey claims the commission of inquiry is no longer relevant to the new context, observers suspect there may be other reasons behind its opposition. The commission in the past has documented Ankara\u2019s direct involvement in airstrikes, detentions and other abuses in Syrian areas under its control. Its sustained support for armed forces in the north along the border, now in coordination with the new government, and renewed tensions with the Kurdish forces may invite renewed scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Turkey\u2019s diplomatic mission in Geneva could not be reached for comment. Syria\u2019s foreign ministry and its diplomatic mission in Geneva didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
On borrowed time<\/p>\n
But Turkey has clearly stated its intentions. \u201cThey will probably push for the commission to cease to exist next year and may try to convince the Syrians,\u201d the diplomatic source said. \u201cBut it will also depend on their diplomatic priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether Ankara succeeds may hinge on civil society. Pressure for continued UN scrutiny remains a factor that carries weight with a Syrian government still trying to win the trust of its own citizens.<\/p>\n
But other factors could also call the commission\u2019s existence into question. The UN Human Rights Office is in the process of establishing a presence in the country, after signing an agreement with the government, shifting the focus more and more towards a less confrontational approach.<\/p>\n
Funding pressures are also looming. Overlapping mechanisms created to address the Assad regime\u2019s brutal repression \u2013 including the Commission of Inquiry, an international independent investigative mechanism created by the General Assembly, a missing persons mechanism and the UN secretary general\u2019s special envoy \u2013 have collectively cost tens of millions of dollars. As the UN faces mounting budget constraints and member states question where resources are spent, the expense is becoming harder to justify.<\/p>\n
One option that could come under consideration is replacing the commission with a lighter mechanism, according to the diplomatic source. But Achek cautions against moving too fast.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to have what happened in Yemen and in Libya, where we moved too prematurely to technical capacity building for national institutions that were neither independent nor capable of accessing all victims,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
States have until Wednesday to submit their resolution drafts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A UN body that has been investigating the worst violations in Syria for the past decade is set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[65,10593,5930],"class_list":{"0":"post-35292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-geneva","8":"tag-geneva","9":"tag-human-rights-council","10":"tag-syria"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116258065885574390","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}