{"id":132670,"date":"2025-11-30T06:27:47","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T06:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=132670"},"modified":"2025-11-30T06:27:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T06:27:49","slug":"amnesty-chief-says-syria-shows-reform-signals-but-lacks-democratic-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/132670\/","title":{"rendered":"Amnesty chief says Syria shows reform signals but lacks democratic progress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013<\/strong> Amnesty International\u2019s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said on Saturday that Syria\u2019s new authorities have taken initial steps toward legal reform, transitional justice, and accountability, but warned that democratic change remains limited one year after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Callamard, who concluded a short visit to Damascus this week, told the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/syria-human-rights-amnesty-reforms-agnes-callamard-d646f0d4fba23d61fadf925d1f000957\">Associated Press<\/a> that draft legal reforms before parliament, new transitional justice committees, and the government\u2019s openness to international rights organizations indicate that \u201cchange is happening in Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll of those things are very good signs but they are not very deep,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Callamard, Syrian officials\u2014including the minister of justice\u2014told her that hundreds of detainees were being held \u201cin relation to abuses by the former regime.\u201d She said authorities plan to draft charges soon but questioned the legal basis for the arrests and the mechanisms planned to try them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She stressed that Syria\u2019s legal framework still requires urgent overhaul, noting that \u201csome of the most gruesome crimes under international law have not been domesticated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Amnesty chief criticized the lack of international involvement in supporting Syrian investigations, contrasting it with Ukraine, where European states deployed expert teams to assist evidence-gathering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNothing like that is happening in Syria. Nothing. So that needs to change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Callamard added that despite minimal international engagement, small Syrian civil society groups remain the primary actors documenting rights abuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She warned that many foreign governments view Syria merely as \u201ca problem that must be contained,\u201d leaving the country without the necessary support to ensure sustainable reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWithout that support, I don\u2019t know whether what\u2019s happening right now will be sustainable,\u201d she said. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime last year, Syria\u2019s transitional authorities have pledged to rebuild state institutions, address decades of systematic abuses, and establish mechanisms for justice and reconciliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">International rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have repeatedly urged the new authorities to overhaul Syria\u2019s criminal code, abolish exceptional courts, and bring domestic law in line with international standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite these calls, progress has been slow, and many detainees arrested under the former regime remain unaccounted for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>By Jwan Shekaki<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 Amnesty International\u2019s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said on Saturday that Syria\u2019s new authorities have taken initial steps toward legal reform, transitional justice, and accountability, but warned that democratic change remains limited one year after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime.&nbsp; Callamard, who concluded a short visit to Damascus this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":132671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39,3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-politics","category-syria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Amnesty chief says Syria shows reform signals but lacks democratic progress<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 Amnesty International\u2019s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said on Saturday that Syria\u2019s new authorities have taken initial\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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