12 November 2019, Oslo

Accountability for Torture in Syria – Norway's role in the struggle against impunity

Oslo
12 November 2019, 6:00 pm
Red Cross Conference Center
Hausmannsgate 7, 0186 Oslo

The event will be streamed in Arabic on ECCHR’s Facebook page and in English on NHC's Facebook page.

المؤتمر سيكون منقولاً مباشراً باللغة العربية على صفحة فيس بوك المركز الأوروبي للحقوق الدستورية وحقوق الإنسان

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Torture, enforced disappearances and executions of political opponents, journalists, and other civilians are only some of the crimes committed by the government of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad and the other parties to the conflict in Syria.

These grave crimes widely go unpunished in Syria. Therefore, torture survivors, relatives, human rights defenders, and lawyers have been documenting the crimes in order to bring those responsible to justice outside Syria – for example by using legal means in Europe.

Several European states opened criminal investigations to hold those accountable who have committed international crimes. As a result, perpetrators from different parties to the conflict were convicted. Also in Norway, this could be made possible through the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows Norwegian authorities to investigate and conduct judicial proceedings in relation to international crimes. In other European countries such as Germany and France, criminal complaints have contributed to arrest warrants against key figures within Assad's torture system.

We would like to discuss which role Norway can play in the international efforts to hold to account those responsible for the crimes committed in Syria, and hear perspectives of our distinguished speakers:

Syrian torture survivors and human rights activists, and Michelle Jarvis, Deputy Head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) for Syria; Anwar al-Bunni, Executive Director of the Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research (SCLRS); Ibrahim al-Kasem, Director of the Caesar Files Group (CFSG); Almoutassim al-Kilani, Litigation Manager at the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM); Une Bastholm, Member of the Norwegian Parliament, The Green Party; Gunnar Ekeløve-Slydal, Deputy Secretary General, Norwegian Helsinki Committeé (NHC); Sofie A. E. Høgestøl, Associate Professor, University of Oslo (UiO) and Patrick Kroker, Head of Syria-Project, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR).
Lotte Leicht, EU-Director, Human Rights Watch (HRW) will moderate the event.

The event will take place in English and Arabic with simultaneous translation.

You can find the full program of the event here.

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