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.

The fall of the Assad regime 15 months ago put Syria on a new path – including last year’s landmark agreement from the Syrian government to cooperate with a decade-old UN commission of inquiry documenting serious violations in the country.

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.

Moving away from pariah status

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.

But pressure from civil society remains high. Local and international organisations are still sceptical about the new government’s 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.

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 – mostly Alawites – 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’s south.

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.

“It has been a year, and in many of these cases there have been no high-ranking officials held to account,” Mayssa Achek, international advocacy officer at the Cairo Institute of Human Rights, tells Geneva Solutions.

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 “found clear patterns of targeting based on religious affiliation, ethnicity, age, and gender” – violations it said may amount to war crimes and even crimes against humanity.

The experts further noted that “training, vetting and lustration mechanisms for security personnel remain insufficient while the responsibilities of senior officials and commanders remain unaddressed”.

A compromise under strain

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.

According to a draft, seen by Geneva Solutions, the investigators would be required to “work in a manner that complements national efforts” 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. “That’s what gives it its credibility,” one diplomatic source in Geneva said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “But it also lends the government credibility for an independent UN body to tell the world they are cooperating.”

The resolution was also moved from agenda item 4, reserved for the worst government offenders, to the less charged item 2 – a diplomatic recognition of the Syrian government’s willingness to cooperate with the UN system.

Still, civil society is wary of how the compromise is phrased. “There is a lack of clarity as to whether some requests are on top of the commission’s original mandate or if they are restrictive,” Achek says. “That leaves the government room for interpretation.”

Then came Turkey. In a move that surprised observers, Ankara – itself part of the core group – 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’s own acquiescence to the commission, many thought, had quieted that push.

Achek, who attended the consultations, says Ankara appeared largely isolated in its opposition, given Syria’s 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.

Ankara finally walked back its opposition and agreed to support the text in exchange for a minor change to better highlight the commission’s work on technical cooperation.

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’s 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.

Turkey’s diplomatic mission in Geneva could not be reached for comment. Syria’s foreign ministry and its diplomatic mission in Geneva didn’t respond to a request for comment.

On borrowed time

But Turkey has clearly stated its intentions. “They will probably push for the commission to cease to exist next year and may try to convince the Syrians,” the diplomatic source said. “But it will also depend on their diplomatic priorities.”

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.

But other factors could also call the commission’s 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.

Funding pressures are also looming. Overlapping mechanisms created to address the Assad regime’s brutal repression – including the Commission of Inquiry, an international independent investigative mechanism created by the General Assembly, a missing persons mechanism and the UN secretary general’s special envoy – 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.

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.

“We don’t 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,” she says.

States have until Wednesday to submit their resolution drafts.