Calls for long-term international investment to rebuild Syria's rule of law
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Summary
A presenter urged the international community to fund long-term programs to rebuild Syria's judiciary and support victims, arguing one-year humanitarian projects are insufficient for decades-long transitional justice work.
A presenter at a public statement said it is "a moment of hope for Syria right now" and urged sustained international investment to support transitional justice and rebuild the country’s legal institutions. "We cannot hope that Syria rebuilds by itself," the presenter said, adding that short-term humanitarian projects cannot meet the needs of post-conflict justice.
The presenter said that within one year Syria "has moved in transitional justice more than the majority of countries that go through transitional justice process," and emphasized widespread willingness among "the government, civil society, [and] the citizens who came back to Syria" to participate in reconstruction. At the same time, the presenter warned that the state and infrastructure are "completely depleted," creating an urgent need for external support.
The statement argued that transitional justice and rebuilding the rule of law require sustained commitments: "We need to think that transitional justice and the rule of law takes decades to be pursued. We cannot have humanitarian style projects of 1 year. We need long term investment that focuses on the rule of law." The presenter specifically called for efforts to "rebuild the judiciary" and to expand "more specialized services for victims and survivors of conflict related [violence]."
Advocating a systems approach, the presenter urged a "holistic response" that integrates multiple services and rebuilds the "architecture of the rule of law." The speaker closed by restating that "the international community needs to act now for a long term," expressing a vision that sustained investment could help "see this investment, and the new Syria being rebuilt."
The remarks were framed as a call to donors and international actors to prioritize long-term institutional funding — not short-term humanitarian projects — to support judicial reform, survivor services and broader rule-of-law reconstruction. No formal proposals, funding commitments or named agencies were specified in the statement.
