Support Human Rights Activists in Syria

This quarter, SJAC provided five live documentation training sessions to various organizations inside and outside Syria.

The first training session was delivered to a documentation organization based in East Africa. The training comprised five modules which included an introduction to international legal frameworks; evidence collection and the role of civil society organizations; principles of safe documentation; trauma informed and victim-centric interview techniques; and how to preserve and utilize large datasets.

SJAC’s Executive Director then conducted training on the principles of documentation for another country in East Africa. Due to the nature of both organizations’ work, their exact locations cannot be disclosed. The training was an introduction to basic documentation techniques and demonstrated how SJAC developed its own documentation team and database system.

SJAC’s Legal Adviser conducted two separate trainings to a Yemeni human rights organization as well as a group of Syrian lawyers. The course covered how to build a case file; provide responses to authorities requesting evidence and information; and rules for collecting evidence and maintaining chains of custody.

These five trainings incorporated different modules from SJAC’s existing documentation training platform, while also including elements of other courses that SJAC is currently developing.

SJAC is working to hire a Program Coordinator to lead capacity-building efforts. A major component of their work will involve collaborating with SJAC’s legal and documentation teams to adapt new training courses for SJAC’s self-guided training platform. The Program Coordinator will also work alongside internal and external trainers to identify gaps in SJAC’s current trainings, both for live sessions and on the documentation platform.

Thank you for your donations as SJAC continues to support documentation activists in Syria.

This quarter SJAC began trialing a new type of documentation training. Initial sessions were given to SJAC’s Documentation and Missing Persons field teams with the goal of providing a greater understanding of which legal frameworks apply to violations. This understanding would allow documenters to ask more informed questions when collecting documentation.

The initial training course focuses on the responsibilities of an occupying power, and how the presence of an occupation, specifically in Turkish occupied areas of Syria, change how documentation needs to be collected. While previous trainings by SJAC focused on developing the basic skills of how to document, SJAC has yet to train activists to understand what legal frameworks apply to which violations. For example, certain crimes which may amount to human rights violations are treated differently if they were committed during an internal armed conflict, in which case the prosecution of perpetrators would fall under domestic jurisdiction, or if they were committed under an occupation, in which case they count as crimes committed during an international armed conflict and may fall under international legal frameworks such as International Humanitarian Law. In these cases, different questions need to be asked to account for variations between domestic and international law.

While specific distinctions should be made by legal experts, it is important for documentation activists to understand basic legal concepts and tailor their documentation to answer the questions needed by whichever legal framework a crime applies to. In areas under occupation this can be particularly complex, which is why SJAC is trialing this new training to ensure it can provide a simple, yet comprehensive legal understanding for trainees.

SJAC will continue to develop the course over the next quarter and hopes to either launch it as a live ad hoc training to documentation groups, which would allow for robust Q&A sessions, and/or release a legal principles training video which will convey basic principles and encourage trainees to contact SJAC for more information.

Thank you again for your support of this project as we continue to expand the training resources available for Syrian activists.