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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.

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Arab World

MSF Suspends Operations at Key Hospital in Sudan's Capital

FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
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MSF Suspends Operations at Key Hospital in Sudan's Capital

FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

Medical aid agency MSF said on Friday it has been forced to suspend its activities at one of the few remaining hospitals in southern Khartoum due to repeated attacks, cutting off yet another lifeline for those who remain in the Sudanese capital.
War has been raging in Sudan since April 2023, sparked by a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule, triggering the world's largest displacement and hunger crisis.
The hospital, which lies in territory controlled by the RSF, helped treat the victims of frequent airstrikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces, as well as hundreds of malnourished women and children in an area where two neighborhoods have been judged at risk of famine, reported Reuters.
"In the 20 months MSF teams have worked alongside hospital staff and volunteers, Bashair Hospital has experienced repeated incidents of armed fighters entering the hospital with weapons and threatening medical staff, often demanding fighters be treated before other patients," MSF said in a statement.
"Despite extensive engagements with all stakeholders, these attacks have continued in recent months. MSF has now taken the very difficult decision to suspend all medical activities in the hospital."
The fighting in Sudan has cut off up to 80% of hospitals in conflict areas, where millions who cannot afford to escape the violence remain. Civilians face frequent air and artillery fire and hunger as supplies are blocked by both warring parties and prices skyrocket.
Medical facilities, including MSF-supported ones that have suspended operations, have frequently come under attack by RSF soldiers demanding treatment or looting supplies. Bashair Hospital has served more than 25,000 people, MSF said, including 9,000 hurt by blasts, gunshot wounds, and other violence.
"Sometimes dozens of people arrived at the hospital at the same time after shelling or airstrikes on residential areas and markets," MSF said in the statement, citing an incident on Sunday where an airstrike one kilometer away drove 50 people to the emergency room, 12 of them already dead.