Navigating Syria’s Transitional Justice Architecture: Informal Documentation of Enforced Disappearance

As Syria moves away from decades of institutionalized violence following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, formal transitional justice (TJ) initiatives are being designed. Yet the struggle to address past atrocities remains highly contested, with justice initiatives largely perceived as reflecting elements of victor’s justice. Despite the establishment of a TJ Commission and a Commission for Missing Persons, the transitional government has so far shown limited commitment to concrete, victim-centred actions. This restraint is particularly worrying with regard to the crime of enforced disappearance (ED), one of the most pervasive crimes under the Assad regime. It is estimated that over 130.000 Syrians have been forcibly disappeared since 2011. The majority remain missing, with no information regarding their fate or whereabouts. In a context where formal justice initiatives were impossible under the Assad regime and where the emerging authorities’ engagement is weak, grassroots documentation efforts are of key importance. Initially emerging in response to the regime’s violent repression of the 2011 uprising, these efforts intensified as enforced disappearance escalated. Survivors, families, and justice actors refused to be silenced and spearheaded concrete initiatives that led to the emergence of a transnational justice network. Despite an entrenched non-transition and widespread international passivity, sustained victim mobilization generated initiatives to uncover the fate and whereabouts of the missing prior to the fall of the Assad regime. Against this background, this paper examines the continued importance of informal actors documenting enforced ED. I analyse how these informal actors continue to navigate, shape, and challenge the emerging institutional architecture in Syria. Many initiatives operate across multiple functions: they support documentation efforts, official archives and forensic investigations, develop memorialisation practices, and advocate for transparency and effective victim participation. Drawing on qualitative analysis of justice initiatives and interviews with justice actors and institutional actors, the paper conceptualizes documentation as a practice of knowledge production and epistemic resistance. It advances two main contributions. First, it shows how informal actors continue to generate innovation in documentation in Syria, particularly in relation to ED. Second, it examines the evolving ecosystem of justice efforts, tracing the connections between informal initiatives and the nascent formal justice architecture.