One Year After the Fall of Assad, 1,101 Syrians Speak Out About Their Demands for Justice

[Antonia Mulvey is a British lawyer, and the founder and executive director of Legal Action Worldwide. She has also served as a UN investigator on the Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar and advised UN agencies and governments on sexual and gender-based violence and access to justice. 

Terry Flyte is an international lawyer and programme lead at Legal Action Worldwide. He works at the intersection of human rights, international criminal law, and transitional justice and directs cross-border legal investigations and evidence-driven advocacy on serious violations in the Syrian conflict.]

In the year since the fall of the Assad government, Syria has entered a period of profound political uncertainty – one marked as much by hope as by fragility. A transitional leadership has been appointed, and new justice bodies are beginning to take shape. Yet the direction of the transition remains fluid, and much about Syria’s political future is still unsettled. What is clear, however, is that serious national discussions on justice and accountability are underway, and they are unfolding in a context where public trust has been deeply eroded by decades of repression and more than a decade of conflict.

Within this landscape, one question has taken on new urgency: what do Syrians themselves want from justice during this moment of transition? Despite the extraordinary leadership that Syrians – particularly those in the diaspora – have shown in driving global justice efforts over the past decade, a significant knowledge gap has persisted. Those living under government control, in opposition-held areas, or in communities fragmented by displacement and insecurity have had far fewer opportunities to articulate their expectations. Their voices have often been missing from formal justice debates, not because they are silent, but because meaningful nationwide consultation has been nearly impossible during years of conflict, surveillance, and fear. 

To correct this gap, Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), together with Syrian Centre for Legal Studies and Research and Syrians for Truth and Justice, conducted the first nationwide survey on perceptions of justice during Syria’s transition. Between July and September 2025, 1,101 Syrians from all 13 governorates participated, offering a rare, empirically grounded picture of what justice means to them after more than a decade of mass atrocities.

The message is unmistakable: Syrians want transformative justice. Their support for accountability, truth-seeking, reparations, and institutional reform shows strong alignment with the core pillars of transitional justice. But Syrians are articulating an interpretation of transitional justice that places far greater emphasis on its forward-looking potential. This vision does not replace transitional justice – it expands it. Syrians are signaling that prosecutions, truth-telling, and reparations must be integrated into a broader project of rebuilding civic trust, reforming institutions, and dismantling the structural inequalities that enabled mass abuses.

Why This Survey Was Necessary

For all the attention Syria has rightly received in international justice debates, one fundamental piece of the picture has been missing: reliable, empirical data on what Syrians inside the country want from justice today. Over the past decade, Syrian civil society – particularly those in the diaspora – has played a leading role in shaping global accountability efforts. Survivors have also been increasingly consulted in the design of emerging national mechanisms since the 2024 transition. But until now, these insights have come primarily through focused engagement with organised groups, individual testimony, or consultations in specific regions.

What has been lacking is a comprehensive, nationwide picture of public attitudes toward justice, one that captures the views of those who remained inside Syria: people living in rural areas, host communities, survivors with no organisational affiliation, families unable to engage formally, and individuals who may not be reached through structured consultations. In a country where conflict, displacement, and fragmentation have shaped access to information and public life for more than a decade, such voices are essential – but have rarely been gathered systematically.

The survey was therefore designed to fill this gap: not to replace ongoing consultations, but to complement them with robust, representative-scale data that can equip Syrian institutions, civil society, and international partners with a clearer understanding of how justice is perceived across society, not only among those already active in justice processes. As Syria embarks on a period of institutional reform and transitional justice design, grounding those efforts in broad-based, evidence-driven public opinion is vital for ensuring that the process remains legitimate, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of the population.

How the Survey Was Conducted

Between July and September 2025, LAW and Syrian partners (Syrian Centre for Legal Studies and Research, Syrians for Truth and Justice, and MIDMAR) conducted a mixed-method public opinion survey using field teams across 13 governorates. Though not a statistically representative sample, the diversity and scale of responses make the findings meaningful and robust. The survey achieved near gender parity; respondents ranged from ages 18 to 89; and all major ethnic and religious communities participated, including Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Assyrians, Armenians, Circassians, Sunnis, Alawites, Shi’a, Christians, and Druze. Displacement was widespread: nearly one-third were displaced, 14% had been detained, and 24% had a family member had been detained. 10% reported a disappeared family member. This breadth captures a cross-section of post-conflict Syria, reflecting geographical, socio-economic, and experiential diversity. 

What Syrians Told Us: A Demand for Transformation

1. Justice is About Rights, Equality, and the Rule of Law

When asked to define justice, Syrians placed rights at the centre:

• 47% defined justice as the restoration of rights
• 20% emphasised equality and non-discrimination
• 15% prioritised rule of law
• 13% linked justice to peace and nation-building

This framing departs from conventional transitional justice discourse, where accountability is often put first. For Syrians, justice begins with the restoration of dignity, protection, and equality before the law.

2. Justice is Essential for Peace

A near-unanimous 91% said justice is necessary to achieve peace. Syrians reject familiar diplomatic arguments that accountability is destabilising or politically premature. For them, justice is the stabilising force.

3. Accountability is Indispensable

When asked to rank transitional justice mechanisms:

• 63% selected punishment of perpetrators as their top priority
• 83% placed accountability in their top three
• 84% rejected blanket amnesties

Syrians understand that without clear consequences for grave crimes, a new social contract based on dignity and respect for rights cannot emerge.

4. Survivors Must Shape the Process

A combined 85% said survivor participation is “very important” or “important.” Among those detained, this rises to 76% – the strongest endorsement among any subgroup. Syrians want a process shaped with victims, not merely about them.

5. Truth Matters Profoundly

89% said an accurate historical record is important or very important. Many described truth not as symbolic, but as a safeguard against denial, revisionism, and the re-emergence of abusive power structures.

6. Women and Minorities Demand Structural Change

Women and Kurdish respondents expressed the strongest emphasis on rights restoration, equality, and protection – highlighting the need for gender-transformative and inclusive justice.

What This Means: Syrians Want Justice That Transforms

Taken together, the findings reveal a population that understands justice not as a narrow exercise in punishing past crimes but as a project of societal transformation. Syrians link accountability to rebuilding institutions, restoring rights, and re-balancing power between citizens and the state. Their emphasis on truth, participation, equality, and institutional reform reflects a view that justice must reshape the conditions that enabled mass violations – not simply catalogue or prosecute them. In this sense, Syrians are not asking international or national actors to “add on” reform to accountability; they are articulating a holistic model in which these elements are mutually reinforcing and essential to any meaningful transition.

This constitutes a distinctly Syrian articulation of transformative justice: a justice process that is forward-looking, grounded in dignity, and capable of creating a fairer and more democratic social order. Syrians are demanding a process that centres survivors, strengthens institutions, protects vulnerable groups, and embeds rights and equality into the state’s future architecture. The message is clear: a transition that focuses only on trials or symbolic gestures will fall short. Justice, as Syrians define it, must transform the systems, structures, and relationships that produced harm – because only this kind of justice can deliver lasting peace.

Translating Findings Into Action: What Syria’s Transitional Authorities Should Do

The survey offers a roadmap for building a legitimate justice system grounded in public expectations. Our report sets out detailed recommendations, but the most urgent include:

1. Adopt a National Transformative Justice Strategy

The National Authority on Transitional Justice (NATJ) should articulate a public, time-bound strategy that integrates accountability, reparations, truth, gender equality, and institutional reform. This strategy must be developed through broad consultation – including low-trust and marginalised communities.

2. Establish a Specialised Court for Grave Crimes

Because accountability is a top public priority, Syria needs a dedicated, independent chamber for serious crimes, with transparent case-selection criteria and public reporting. Crucially, prosecutions must illuminate structural causes – not only individual culpability.

3. Design Reparations Programmes that Reduce Inequality

Reparations must be transformative, combining financial compensation, property restitution, healthcare, housing, education, and livelihood support. Priorities should include displaced families and female-headed households. Reparations should redistribute opportunities and correct structural disadvantages.

4. Institutionalise Survivor Participation 

Participation must be a design principle, not an afterthought. Survivor advisory panels should exist in every governorate. Survivors should sit on reparations, truth, and reform committees. Their involvement must be safe, confidential, and supported through legal and psychosocial services.

5. Build a National Truth Infrastructure

A single registry of the missing, transparent forensic procedures, family support centres, and periodic public reports should form the backbone of Syria’s truth system.

6. Reform the Judiciary as a Guarantee of Non-recurrence

Judicial vetting, transparent appointments, gender inclusion, and repeal of repressive laws are essential steps toward judicial independence..

Conclusion: A Moment that Must Not Be Missed

Syria stands at an inflection point. The window for shaping a legitimate, inclusive justice process is open – but it will not remain so indefinitely. The public has spoken with remarkable clarity: justice must transform the structures, systems, and inequalities that enabled abuse. This is no small task. But it is not aspirational. It is practical. It is grounded in the lived experience of Syrians who know what went wrong and what must change.

If policymakers and international actors truly listen, Syria has a chance not merely to reckon with its past, but to build a future in which justice is not an exception but an expectation. The question now is whether the transition will honour the mandate Syrians have articulated – or repeat the cycles of compromise and unmet promises that have defined too many transitions elsewhere. The answer will determine not only the legitimacy of Syria’s justice process, but the durability of its peace.

Photo attribution: “Girl Power – Zaad from Syria” by UN Women/Christopher Herwig is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0