The International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court, has recently announced that the Netherlands and Canada are taking Syria to court over allegations of torture.
In their application, the two countries state that “Syria has committed countless violations of International law, beginning at least in 2011”, and are requesting emergency measures to protect individuals at risk of torture.
The aim is to hold President Bashar Assad’s government accountable for gross human rights violations and torture, based on the UN Convention against Torture.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry asserts, “It is the Dutch government’s position that there is ample evidence demonstrating that Syria has committed serious human rights violations against Syrian citizens on a grand scale”
The application also seeks emergency orders from the court for Syria to cease torture, cruel treatment, arbitrary detentions, and other violations. Typically, the World Court schedules emergency hearings shortly after receiving such claims.
If granted jurisdiction, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) would become the first international court capable of legally addressing the alleged state use of torture in Syria.
The decision of Canada and the Netherlands to take action in 2020 was prompted by Russia’s repeated blockage, in the United Nations Security Council, of attempts to refer a case on human rights abuses in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which handles war crime prosecutions of individuals.
Notably, in January 2022, Germany achieved a conviction for the use of torture by a former Syrian state official in a groundbreaking trial, utilizing its universal jurisdiction laws to prosecute crimes against humanity regardless of where they were committed.
While ICJ cases typically take years to reach a final verdict, emergency orders can be issued within weeks. The Syrian civil war, spanning 12 years, has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, the displacement of millions, and the involvement of regional and global powers. The conflict’s devastation has been compounded by significant damage caused by earthquakes in northwestern Syria in February.
