Supporting Accountability for Sexual Violence in the Syria and Iraq Conflicts

Abstract

Abstract This article examines innovations in investigating sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) through private investigations of international criminal and humanitarian law violations in Syria and Iraq. Drawing on the progress, challenges and lessons learned at the international level, a few notable initiatives have endeavoured to implement high-quality criminal investigations driven by local actors. The article first sets out the context in which private initiatives have moved to fill the gaps in the international response to crimes in Syria and Iraq through a shift to supporting national investigators engaged in evidence-gathering in their own countries and amid ongoing conflict. Next, the article explores efforts to build the capacity of national investigators to conduct safe and ethical evidence-gathering concerning sexual violence, often facing down socio-cultural barriers and other obstacles to effective investigations. Thirdly, the article examines the case-building strategy pursued by initiatives such as the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), from ensuring a focus on demonstrating leadership responsibility for crimes of sexual violence by the Syrian military and security apparatus and Islamic State to feeding cases into viable avenues for prosecution. This section explores some of the innovations, good practices and lessons learned in such initiatives in response to challenges arising in sexual offence investigation. Such issues include socio-cultural barriers to effective investigation of SGBV, the risk of creating SGBV silos, and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of national investigators. Finally, the article offers a prognosis for these efforts’ successful contribution to future accountability for conflict-related sexual violence in Syria and Iraq, and concludes with wider lessons for the role of private criminal investigations of this category of criminality and beyond.