Sectarianism and transitional justice in Syria: Resisting international trials.

Source: (2014) Georgetown Journal of International Law. 45:557-587.

Speculation has swarmed regarding prospects for transitional justice in
Syria, and international actors have been particularly insistent on the need for
international criminal courts to hold the Asad regime and opposition militant
groups accountable for the human rights violations and war crimes they are
committing on a near daily basis. These early calls for accountability in Syia
often presuppose that the conflict is sectarian in nature, rendering the Syians
hopelessly divided by religion and ethnicity and in need of international
assistance to bring about justice and reconciliation in their society. The historical
experiences of Iraq and Lebanon caution against such a presupposition. They
demonstrate how the fusing of sectarian discourse and international justice
schemes has politicized international trials and entrenched ethno-religious
divisions. In the Syrian context, this fusing obscures the political motivations of
international actors, plays into the hands of the Asad regime’s sectarian
narrative, and ignores the non-violent democratic activism that underlies the
Syrian uprising. While the appropriatet ransitionalju stice mechanism for Spia
is a decision for Syrians to make, this Note posits that truth-telling informed by
religion can play a role in fostering reconciliation and accountable governance
in the Syria of tomorrow. (author’s abstract)