Everyone knows that transitional justice is one of the fundamental pillars for building Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which ruled Syria for six decades during which Syrians endured the horrors of destruction, killing, displacement, and torture, necessitating the formation of a transitional government headed by President Ahmad al-Shara. The Syrian society cannot overcome the legacy of violence and destruction without holding accountable those responsible for the crimes and achieving genuine national reconciliation. Achieving transitional justice in this context is essential to ensure the rights of victims and to enhance the stability of the country, with a focus on ensuring justice for all Syrian components, especially the Kurdish people who suffered from systematic discriminatory policies under Ba'athist rule and the Assad regime.

The Kurdish component in Syria has suffered for decades from policies of exclusion and persecution implemented by the Ba'ath Party and later the Assad regime. They were denied citizenship in a general census in 1962, and they were marginalized in all economic, political, and cultural fields. Policies aimed at altering the demographic composition in Kurdish areas were also enforced, such as the Arab belt project, which led to the settlement of Arabs in Kurdish areas to erase Kurdish identity. These practices intensified during the years of war, as Kurdish regions faced attacks from multiple parties, including the regime and extremist groups. The fall of the Syrian regime would present a prime opportunity to initiate a comprehensive transitional justice process, encompassing the accountability of all parties involved in the violations, including the former regime, armed factions, and extremist groups linked to the bloodshed in Syria. Achieving justice will not be possible without establishing specialized courts or resorting to international courts such as the International Criminal Court to ensure that those responsible for crimes face justice and do not escape punishment.

In addition to legal accountability, transitional justice requires the reform of judicial and political institutions to ensure their independence and their ability to address complex issues impartially. It should also be accompanied by compensation policies for the victims, whether through financial support or psychological and social rehabilitation, to restore citizens' trust in the new state institutions.

Compensation should not only be limited to financial aspects; it must also include restoring dignity to the victims through official recognition of their suffering, integrating them into political and social life, and ensuring that the violations they experienced are not repeated.

Regarding the rights of the Kurds, transitional justice should include special measures to address the legacy of discrimination and violations they faced, by restoring rights that were taken away, such as the restoration of Syrian citizenship for those who were deprived of it and compensating those harmed by demographic change projects. Additionally, official recognition of Kurdish identity as a key component of Syria should be included in the new constitution, along with their political empowerment and ensuring fair representation in government and national institutions, involving them in decision-making to prevent the recurrence of previous exclusionary policies.

Fair compensation is also a fundamental aspect of ensuring the rights of the Kurds, whether through providing material and moral reparations for those who faced persecution and marginalization, or through acknowledging their cultural and linguistic rights and integrating them into the educational and administrative systems of the country. 

Thus, national reconciliation, as an essential part of transitional justice, must be based on confronting the truth and acknowledging the crimes that were committed during the conflict. Achieving this requires the formation of national reconciliation committees representing various components of Syrian society to document crimes, promote community dialogue, and develop strategies to rebuild trust among different groups. These committees must be transparent and independent, enjoying international support that guarantees their neutrality, and must include all active parties in Syrian society, from politicians and religious leaders to representatives of civil society.

Moreover, one important issue that must be considered in the transitional justice process is the rights of Syria's diversity, as the Syrian community consists of multiple sects and ethnicities, including Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Armenians, Christians, Druze, Yazidis, and others.

Many of these groups have faced discrimination or repression under the previous regime, and the conflict has exacerbated ethnic and sectarian divisions. Therefore, transitional justice must ensure acknowledgment of the rights of all Syrian components and promote the principle of equality before the law. Rebuilding trust among different components requires policies that guarantee everyone's participation in political life and ensure their fair representation in the new institutions.

Transitional justice programs should also include efforts to document the violations faced by various groups and provide fair compensations that consider historical gaps in rights and political representation. It is also essential to develop educational curricula that promote values of tolerance and pluralism, ensuring that previous patterns of exclusion and discrimination are not reproduced.

From here, we must recognize that the challenges to achieving transitional justice in Syria remain significant, most notably the deep divisions within Syrian society and the lack of political will among some parties to engage in fair and comprehensive accountability. Additionally, external interventions may complicate the process, as some international powers seek to impose solutions aligned with their interests, which could affect the independence of transitional justice. Furthermore, there are challenges related to the mechanisms for implementing transitional justice in light.

Azeddine Mulla