New US initiative for ‘Justice, Accountability’ in Syria

US Department of State, Reuters
US Department of State, Reuters
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New US initiative for ‘Justice, Accountability’ in Syria

US Department of State, Reuters
US Department of State, Reuters

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.



Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Man in West Bank

A picture taken in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah city shows the nearby Israeli Shilo settlement in the background, in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
A picture taken in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah city shows the nearby Israeli Shilo settlement in the background, in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
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Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Man in West Bank

A picture taken in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah city shows the nearby Israeli Shilo settlement in the background, in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
A picture taken in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah city shows the nearby Israeli Shilo settlement in the background, in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

Palestinian authorities said Israeli troops killed a 55-year-old man in the north of the occupied West Bank on Thursday -- an incident the Israeli army said involved a stabbing attack.

The Ramallah-based health ministry said the body in charge of coordination with Israel informed it that soldiers "shot and killed" the man in Rummanah, near Jenin, in the morning.

The Israeli military said separately that troops deployed in the village "neutralised" a man after he stabbed and "moderately injured" a soldier, AFP reported.

The army generally uses the term "neutralised" after killing someone.

Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has soared since the Hamas attack of October 2023.

A 12-year-old Palestinian boy died Thursday of wounds suffered during an army raid near the West Bank town of Nablus last week, the health ministry said.

Since October 7, 2023, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 951 Palestinians, including many militants, the ministry said.

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Over the same period, at least 35 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to Israeli figures.