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".

Since my last letter on 29 August, many developments have taken place in my professional life. Only a few hours after sending the final draft to my colleagues at the ECCHR for publication, Decree No. (149) was announced, naming the members of the Transitional Justice Commission – 13 in total, including myself.

I was not officially notified of this decision. Instead, I learned of it through a flood of congratulatory messages from Syrian friends and colleagues both inside and outside Syria. I could not hide my unease in front of the friends who happened by chance to be visiting me at home. What increased my confusion even more so was that my own friends were divided – some encouraging, others surprised that I might accept such a difficult responsibility given the current circumstances in the country.

That night, I couldn’t sleep until dawn, and even then, only for a few hours. Despite spending the following day thinking deeply, I could not make up my mind until I visited my father in the evening to discuss the matter with him. His opinion was firm and convincing: The recovery of our devastated Syria is the responsibility of all of us. It is not appropriate – at least morally – to avoid responsibility out of fear or hesitation before even trying, and before sincerely doing everything possible to contribute to rebuilding, each from their own position and expertise. On my way home, I made a promise to myself to remain positive and to work diligently toward the success of the Transitional Justice Commission’s efforts.

The National Commission for Transitional Justice held its first meeting on 3 September 2025. I was assigned to head the Truth-seeking Committee, one of six committees: Accountability, Reparation, Memorialization, Civil Peace, and Institutional Reform. Since that date, the Commission has met regularly to discuss strategies, needs, and to develop an overall framework. It has also participated in numerous workshops with Syrian civil society and international organizations, both inside and outside Syria.

Among the most notable external activities the Commission carried out in October was an educational visit to Rwanda, supported by the State of Qatar. I was invited to participate with two colleagues from the Accountability and Civil Peace Committees, in addition to the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Commission. The purpose of the visit was to gain practical insight into Rwanda’s experience with transitional justice: dealing with the issues of missing persons, institutional coordination, community engagement, preserving memory, and preventing recurrence of hostilities.

Undoubtedly, Rwanda’s experience is inspiring and full of lessons. Although there are many differences between the two countries in terms of the causes of conflict and their histories, there are also similarities – especially regarding the numbers of missing persons, mass graves, and the vast number of perpetrators involved in crimes.

The visit lasted four days and followed an intensive program in the capital, Kigali. We met with the Rwandan Minister of Justice, the Deputy Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement, and many officials from state institutions associated with forensic medicine and advanced laboratories. We also visited memorial museums and “reconciliation villages,” where victims and reintegrated former perpetrators live side by side after serving their sentences.

Kigali is a charming, green and clean city. Everyone abides traffic laws, despite the enormous number of motorcycles used as a primary means of transport. For someone like me, coming from chaotic Damascus, it was reasonable to admire the city and its people, and to dream of seeing my city reach Kigali’s level of progress as soon as possible.

What interested me the most during the meetings was the unified national narrative. From the highest official to any of the victims we met, everyone told the same story – about the circumstances that led to the genocide, what happened, and how the country dealt with its catastrophic aftermath.

This unified narrative highlighted the importance of political will. Officials stressed that peacebuilding is a political decision made by the highest authority in the country: “Credit goes to the top leadership for making peace.” The peace process began with a national dialogue that lasted a full year, involving all segments of society, and concluded with clear, binding decisions for everyone.

One particularly fascinating experience was “Umuganda,” which literally means “coming together for a common purpose.” It is a community service day in Rwanda held on the morning of the last Saturday of each month for voluntary social work. On this day, citizens engage in activities such as cleaning neighborhoods, planting trees, repairing roads and infrastructure, or building homes for vulnerable groups. Although Umuganda is portrayed as voluntary – even the president and his family participate – it is in reality largely mandatory, with fines or penalties for able-bodied citizens (typically aged 18 – 65) who do not participate. During this time, many regular services are suspended, and transport within cities halts significantly.

Another noteworthy point in the Rwandan narrative was the emphasis on the “negative role of the media” in inciting genocide. This particularly resonated with my growing concern about the increasing hate speech and incitement among Syrians on social media. Rwanda’s case clearly demonstrates the power of media and propaganda in fueling hatred and violence. The regime in power at the time – dominated by the Hutu ethnic group – used massive propaganda campaigns before and during the 1994 genocide to incite citizens to hate and kill the Tutsi population.

One of the most valuable lessons from Rwanda is the government’s intense focus on spreading a “culture of peace” within society – not only through school curricula and student education programs, but also through teaching parents and grandparents. A parliamentary study conducted eleven years after the massacres revealed that the culture of hatred and revenge was still being passed down to children through stories and anecdotes.

Perhaps the most impressive part of the visit was the detailed presentation by the Minister of Justice about Rwanda’s legal situation, the collapse of its judiciary after the genocide, the reasons behind establishing the Gacaca courts, and the subsequent steps toward rebuilding the legal system and reforming laws.

My colleagues and I were astonished to learn that, following the genocide, there was not a single judge left in Rwanda, and that only 37 lawyers and legal professionals in total had survived and remained in the country.

These minister’s words particularly stayed with me:

Indeed, a four-day visit organized by a state institution is not enough to capture the full image; for that, I would have needed to meet with more actors, from civil society or the opposition, for instance. This has pushed me to investigate further after arriving in Damascus, and I actually did find other narratives that contradict the one I received during my official trip.

Still, this visit to Rwanda filled me with great enthusiasm and hope. If a country that lost nearly one million people in one hundred days could survive, achieve peace and development, and become one of Africa’s leading economic powers, then surely Syria – with its wealth of human resources – will also recover and flourish. If only there is the political will to build a unifying national identity and adequate support for reconstruction and institutional rebuilding.

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