After suffering atrocity crimes and serious violations of human rights, many victims and survivors across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region often find themselves facing serious hurdles in their pursuit of justice and accountability. The creation of justice mechanisms at the United Nations or otherwise, be it fact-finding bodies, special rapporteurs, or commissions of inquiry, often requires buy-in from states, but such support is frequently politicized, resulting in double standards that favor some victims’ access to justice while neglecting others.
To ensure that victims of all backgrounds are able to access justice without discrimination, creative policy solutions must be implemented at the international level to address and counter double standards and the politicization of justice. To this end, TIMEP convened victims and survivors from Syria, Lebanon, and Sudan to discuss the challenges that they face in accessing and engaging with international justice spaces, the successes they have achieved, and the opportunities and pathways available to them. Informed by this shared analysis, the victims and survivors then analyzed three policy solutions that could make justice more accessible to them at the international stage, including the creation of a UN special procedure, a universal and permanent fact finding mission at the UN, and a Global Fund for Victims.
Based on these discussions, TIMEP is proud to publish a policy brief titled “Mainstreaming Victim-Centric Solutions in the International Justice System.” This policy brief navigates the three proposed policy solutions, assessing how each can improve victims’ access to justice, as well as any practical challenges that need to be addressed for these ideas to be implemented.
By doing so, TIMEP and its Syrian, Lebanese, and Sudanese partners intend to kickstart a much-needed conversation and offer a series of practical pathways to center victims in the international justice system.