Writing Atrocities: Syrian Civil Society and Transitional Justice

Abstract

This paper argues that in raging conflicts such as in Syria, the documentation of violations should be considered as a stand-alone mechanism of transitional justice and as a means to lay the foundation for a variety of future post-conflict justice goals. This is for two principal reasons. First, documentation is a powerful form of non-violent resistance to ongoing, violent conflict. It constitutes a crucial pursuit of justice without having to wait for a political transition to take place or for conflict to subside. Documentation resists the hijacking of narratives and the destruction of evidence, history, and memory. It maintains and protects a database containing material crucial for eventual prosecutions and truth commissions. In doing so, documentation keeps the issue of justice in Syria alive, even if it is sidelined or altogether dismissed in official peace talks. This makes documentation, in and of itself, a form of resistance.