The Syrian Initiative for Fundamental Rights AR

Archive

Publications

Position papers, briefings, and statements.

8 papers 2025–2026

Position paper

Request to Continue the Proceedings Before the International Court of Justice: To the Governments of Canada and the Kingdom of the Netherlands

SIFR, a coalition of ten Syrian civil society organizations, urges Canada and the Netherlands to continue the ICJ proceedings against Syria through a judgment on the merits, rather than suspending, discontinuing or settling the case on the basis of political transition or diplomatic assurances alone. A change of government does not extinguish Syria's treaty obligations, and the Court's Order of 16 November 2023 remains legally binding. As torture and ill-treatment remain a present risk and the preservation of evidence remains urgent, SIFR calls on both governments to continue the case, support independent monitoring, and consult meaningfully with victims and civil society.
Position paper

From State Control to Safeguarding Independence: Essential Safeguards for Syria’s New Law on Associations

This position paper addresses the drafting of Syria's new law on associations, which presents a critical opportunity to move beyond the restrictive, state-control approach that characterised Law No. 93 of 1958 and its amendments under the former regime. The paper identifies essential safeguards that the new law must guarantee to ensure compliance with Syria's constitutional and international obligations, including freedom to form associations, protection of unregistered entities, organisational and administrative independence, access to funding and resources without prior approval, limited and transparent oversight, proportionate sanctions, and dissolution only by judicial order. The paper further outlines thirteen legislative pitfalls that would recreate an apparatus of state control over civil society, including requiring security approval, subjecting activities to individual approvals, granting executive authorities broad discretionary powers, and allowing administrative dissolution. Recommendations call for publishing the full draft law for public consultation, referring it to the Supreme Constitutional Court for an opinion, repealing Law No. 93 and inconsistent regulations, establishing a unified civilian registration system, and ensuring effective judicial review of all administrative decisions affecting associations.
Position paper

Deprivation of Bread and Energy: Policies Deepening Poverty in Syria

This paper argues that current policies to liberalize bread and energy prices in Syria do not constitute economic reform in any developmental sense, but rather deepen poverty, undermine food security, and threaten the social legitimacy of the transition. Treating wheat, bread and energy as expenditure items whose subsidies can be cut and prices raised represents a dangerous departure from the social and political significance of food and production. When wheat is priced below cost, bread is governed by market logic, energy by profit, and wages are expected to absorb all these conditions, the outcome is not recovery but a poorer society with less capacity to produce. The Syrian Initiative for Fundamental Rights therefore calls for a transitional social protection approach that guarantees access to bread, energy and housing as basic requirements for a dignified life, while linking support for producers, wages and services to the actual cost of living and poverty lines.
Position paper

Draft Transitional Justice Law in Syria: A Critical Analysis of Structural Gaps and Recommendations for Legislative Reform

SIFR recommends the adoption of an inclusive and impartial transitional justice framework that ensures the recognition of all victims without discrimination, strengthens judicial independence, clearly delineates the powers of the institutions established under the law, guarantees the meaningful participation of victims and civil society, and aligns with international standards in a manner that advances effective accountability, reparations, institutional reform, and guarantees of non-recurrence