Against a wave of criticism slamming the Biden administration for not having a clear strategy on Syria, the US State Department launched a competition for organizations looking to promote the transitional justice processes for conflict in the Levantine country.
The State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), in a notice on Monday, revealed that the competition offers applicants a chance to win a funding opportunity with a ceiling of $987,654 and a floor of $500,000.
“DRL’s goal is to ensure truth, justice and accountability processes addressing gross and systematic human rights violations committed in Syria account for and address the gendered dimensions of the Syrian conflict and gendered experiences and impacts of human rights violations, especially those committed against women and girls,” said the notice.
It is worth noting that announcing the grant marks a development in the process of shaping the new US leadership’s policy on Syria.
Through this competition, DRL is looking to fund a project that will advance Syrian women’s meaningful engagement in and leadership of efforts to pursue truth, justice, and accountability for human rights violations and abuses committed in Syria.
Improving collaboration, coordination, and cooperation amongst women and women-led organizations pursuing truth, justice, and accountability, as well as between women’s-based networks and broader justice and accountability efforts, is also an objective.
More so, DRL listed a number of outcomes it expected from the program.
They included strengthening the role played by women activists and women-led initiatives in designing and implementing the current and future truth, justice, and accountability initiatives for human rights violations committed in Syria.
This includes, but is not limited to, investigations and prosecutions of atrocity crimes, as well as the political process.
