After twelve years in exile, human rights lawyer and ECCHR Legal Advisor Joumana Seif was able to return to Syria for the first time. She will be reporting from Syria at regular intervals. Subscribe to our "Letter from Damascus".

I never expected that my decision to stay in Damascus and work from there during the summer months would bring with it such immense challenges. Living through days when temperatures reached 50 degrees Celsius, with electricity available only for a few scattered hours, water cut off for days, and constant news of massacres and grave human rights violations against my friends and their families in Suweida – under such conditions, maintaining any sense of balance and managing to do work at an acceptable level becomes an almost impossible task.

Perhaps the severe water crisis, the government’s inability to fulfill its optimistic promises regarding the resolution of the electricity crisis, along with the worsening economic challenges and the resort to force in addressing political and security crises have collectively contributed to changing the general mood regarding the evaluation of the new authority’s performance among the people of Damascus. It has become common to hear the phrase, “We are no longer as optimistic as before,” even from those loyal to the authorities or those usually reluctant to express their opinions, and to hear “Things are not well” from the less reserved.

One of the most striking changes in Damascus in recent months is the overwhelming number of new cars on its already crumbling streets – especially large black SUVs, where you cannot see who is inside, some of which bear no license plates and do not even comply with traffic signals. Driving your own car to work has thus become a difficult task, and the thought of accepting a dinner invitation or going out to meet friends in the evening – then returning through Damascus’s dark streets, where the number of checkpoints has increased – has turned into an adventure that requires the utmost caution.

The activities and events of civil society have noticably declined over the past two months. No doubt, annual holidays and the weather has played a role, but I am not certain that the previous enthusiasm will return with autumn. The sense of frustration affecting civil society is now apparent to everyone, stemming from the broader political and security climate, and from government policies of exclusion and lack of transparency. This has led many civil society activists to abandon plans of returning and settling in Syria, while some have even shifted into open opposition toward the authorities after their legitimate criticisms were met with hostility and attacks from authority loyalists – especially on social media, which has turned into a battleground where no insult or threat against critics is spared. What is also striking is the government’s tendency to hold large-scale events on certain occasions, in partnership with civil or local society, such as the conference held on 21 August in the city of Daraya under the title “Syria’s Massacres, a Memory That Does Not Die: Documentation for Prosecution.”

From the moment I entered the outskirts of Daraya (a city west of Damascus, almost completely destroyed after years of bombardment and barrel bombs during the revolution), I noticed the presence of heavy security throughout the city. Soon after, I saw a convoy of luxury cars and SUVs, and realized that all this military and police deployment was merely to secure the passage of the Minister of Culture, who was scheduled to deliver a speech at the conference – a striking paradox between the desperate needs of the city’s residents and the resources poured into a speech by a minister whose portfolio had nothing to do with the subject of the conference.

The contradictions, however, were not limited to the minister’s showing off. They extended as well to the conference’s theme and the speeches delivered. Although the slogan of the conference was “You must never forget the massacre, no matter what, because a forgotten massacre is one that repeats itself,” every speech and intervention focused exclusively on the massacres and crimes of the Assad regime and the necessity of holding its perpetrators accountable, while completely ignoring what had taken place in (Syria’s coastal cities)[1]. And this despite the Syrian government’s acceptance of the report of the International Commission of Inquiry, which documented massacres and grave human rights violations, and whose recommendations were described by Syria’s Foreign Minister, Mr. Asaad al-Shibani, as a roadmap for addressing such atrocities. Equally absent was any mention of what had taken place – and continues to take place – (in Suweida)[2].

At least, this was the case during the two morning hours I attended, throughout which I could not stop asking myself:

Following the escalation of events in Suweida on 12 July, which threatened the country’s remaining stability and social cohesion, calls grew for a genuine national dialogue to prevent division and collapse. In response, on 18 July, we – a group of civil society activists who had attended the February 25 National Dialogue Conference – launched the National Salvation Initiative in a letter to President Ahmad al-Shar‘a.

The initiative proposes to create an official national dialogue body composed of independent Syrian figures from diverse political, religious and ethnic backgrounds, with strong representation of women and youth. This body would lead inclusive dialogues inside and outside Syria over 12–18 months, in partnership with unions, universities, political parties, civil society organizations, and national figures. Its mission would be to build a shared vision on key issues such as: a new social contract, rights and freedoms, the political system and decentralization, drafting a permanent constitution, transitional justice, economic reform, governance and security in the transitional period, countering hate speech, and convening a Syrian General Conference.

The initiative has gained over 1,750 signatures from organizations and public figures and was submitted to members of the National Dialogue Conference Committee to be delivered to the President, along with a request for a meeting. We still await his response, convinced that genuine national dialogue remains the only path to Syria’s stability and prosperity.

I would have wished to be able to report positive developments in my fourth letter from Damascus. However, the social rifts left behind by the criminal Assad regime and the long years of war are becoming increasingly deep – particularly as a result of the decision to continue relying on violence and military solutions instead of initiating a genuine national dialogue process that would find consensual solutions and ensure stability for Syria and the region. Despite all the difficulties and challenges, we will continue our efforts and pursue every possible opportunity, with full faith that millions of good-hearted Syrians who have suffered from tyranny for decades deserve a future of freedom, dignity and hope.

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