News and Insights

Al Jazeera coverage of “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked”: “Last month, war crimes investigators concluded that the Syrian government had deployed “shabbiha”

Includes a summary of CIJA’s report on Syrian Regime paramilitaries “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked” alongside updates of the International Court of Justice torture case

“Ces documents, écrits de la plume même du régime, sont la prevue qu’il s’est appuyé sur ses groups dès la premier jour réprimer les manifestations et écraser les rebelles”

“A new report, by the war crimes investigators of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, documents how the highest levels of Syria’s Assad regime “

Documents secured by CIJA and produced by various Syrian State entities demonstrate the Regime’s incremental reliance on brutal paramilitary gangs to enforce the governments’ crackdown on peaceful protesters and later, to attack the civilian population.

Reuters correspondents Stephanie van den Berg and Maya Gebeily’s exclusive review of CIJA’s report “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked” which includes seven documents created by the Syrian Regime

The Reuters Special Report on the Myanmar military’s planning of its deadly purge of the Rohingya won the investigative feature writing category of the Human Rights Press Awards, drawing on CIJA’s four-year long investigation into crimes against Myanmar's minorities by the Burmese Armed Forces.

CNN’s Turkey Correspondent, Jomana Karadsheh Scott pays tribute to CIJA’s Deputy Head of Investigations in Syria, who, along with his wife and four children perished in the earthquake on 06 February 2022.

It is with the deepest sorrow that we announce the death of our Deputy Chief of the Syria Investigations Unit, Mustafa, and his family. Mustafa, his wife Rola, their beautiful children Tala, Hanin, Mays and Omar all perished in the devastating earthquake that struck North-Western Syria and Turkey on 06 February 2023.

In his contribution to the Symposium, CIJA’s Director of Investigations and Operations Chris Engels provides a clear-sighted summary of the experiences and challenges of gathering and authenticating evidence in combat zones.

CIJA’s Commissioner Ambassador Rapp and Fritz Streiff discuss the need for CIJA’s battlefield investigation in Syria and its importance in securing justice in the Syria Trials Podcast (S1:E10) on Innovations in international criminal justice for Syria.

On 17 November 2022, Nerma Jelacic spoke at Roadmap to a Safe Environment in Syria, convened by the Syrian Association for Citizens Dignity, the Free Syrian Lawyers Association and the European Institute of Peace, in Geneva

On 19 September, CIJA’s Director of Investigations and Operations participated in the Atlantic Council’s panel “Protection of Victims and Witnesses in Atrocity Trials” held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Nerma Jelacic spoke at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict where she discussed CIJA’s upstream contributions to accountability for mass atrocities.

Speaking with BBC Worldwide, CIJA’s Bill Wiley discusses the legal requirements of proving that war crimes took place in Bucha, Ukraine.

In an interview with CBC, CIJA Executive Director discussed the atrocities in the Ukraine and the clear perpetration of war crimes.