Guarantees of non-recurrence on ethnic and religious minorities: an analysis of the measures adopted by the Syrian transitional government

Abstract

The current post-war period in Syria presents an outstanding opportunity to prevent future gross violations of human rights. This dissertation investigates the effects of the measures adopted by the transitional government in this regard on the country’s main ethnic and religious minorities, namely the Alawite, Druze, Christian, and Kurdish communities. This research also seeks to understand the role of historical changes in the status of these groups in current provisions of non-recurrence and to study the alignment of the measures adopted by the new authorities with the specific recommendations on non-recurrence advanced by United Nations Special Rapporteur for the promotion of justice, truth, reparation, and guarantees of non-recurrence. Following a desk-based research methodology and drawing on primary and secondary sources, including constitutional texts, academic contributions, UN and civil society reports and journalistic pieces, this dissertation is divided into three main chapters: the first focuses on understanding the history and current applications of Guarantees of Non-Recurrence; the second provides a report on the situation of minority groups in Syria since before the war until the present; and the third examines the measures the transitional authorities have introduced in the areas of symbolic declarations of commitment to human rights and reduction of institutional abuse by the security forces and the legal and judicial system. It concludes that the measures adopted by the transitional government to advance non-recurrence have had a mainly negative effect on ethnic and religious minorities, as they continue to be threatened by the reproduction of the historical conditions for the commission of GVHRs against them and the inclusion of renewed limitations on the accountability of perpetrators. Keywords: Guarantees of Non-Recurrence; Ethnic and Religious Minorities; Syrian Transitional Government; Human Rights Commitments; Prevention of Institutional Abuse