Academic literature on the topic 'Syrian criminal law'
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Journal articles on the topic "Syrian criminal law"
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Geneuss, Julia. "The Legal Limbo of Counter-Terrorism Criminal Law and Armed Conflict Anti-Regime and Anti-IS (Foreign) Fighters Before European Courts." European Criminal Law Review 10, no. 3 (2020): 338–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.5771/2193-5505-2020-3-338.
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The Syrian conflict has reached public prosecution offices and courts in numerous European states with full force. Criminal investigations and proceedings against so-called foreign fighters returning from Syria as well as against persons who arrived as refugees or migrants and were involved in the conflict as members of non-state armed groups have rapidly increased in recent years. Most of the fighters returning or arriving from Syria to Europe are members of the so-called Islamic State or comparable jihadist groups and are being prosecuted for counter-terrorism crimes. In this contribution, however, the focus will be on those groups for which classification as “terrorist organization” is less clear. This paper takes a closer look at the criminal investigations and proceedings that are being conducted in several European states against anti-regime and anti-IS (foreign) fighters. Do members of these groups also face prosecution under counter-terrorism criminal law after their return to or their entry into the country? Or does counter-terrorism criminal law differentiate between the groups involved in the Syrian conflict? Is this differentiation a legal or a political matter? Who is responsible for the decision? What criteria apply?
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Rankin, Melinda. "The ‘Responsibility to Prosecute’ Core International Crimes? The Case of German Universal Jurisdiction and the Syrian Government." Global Responsibility to Protect 11, no. 4 (October 4, 2019): 394–410. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1875984x-01104003.
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Arguably, more than any other state or interstate actor, German federal authorities, including the German Federal Public Prosecutor General (Generalbundesanwalt, gba) and German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt), have been at the forefront of issuing arrest warrants for senior members of the Syrian government suspected of atrocity crimes in the wake of the Arab Spring. This includes German federal authorities making the first arrest of a senior member of the Syrian government in February 2019 for crimes against humanity. This article argues that in relation to core international crimes, Germany’s concept of law reflects one based on a ‘standard’ and international rule of law. Moreover, German federal authorities have demonstrated a willingness to use international humanitarian and criminal law (ichl) in relation to those most responsible for core international crimes. In this way, Germany’s current investigations into alleged crimes against humanity in Syria since 2011 provides for an illuminating case for extending universal jurisdiction, as well as the ‘responsibility to prosecute’ as a legal obligation. It also indicates how a multiplicity of actors – including state and non-state actors – can extend the reach of international criminal law, when the International Criminal Court (icc) cannot act.
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Burgis-Kasthala, Michelle. "Entrepreneurial Justice: Syria, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability and the Renewal of International Criminal Justice." European Journal of International Law 30, no. 4 (November 2019): 1165–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chz065.
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Abstract This article argues that the crisis of governance generated by the Syrian civil war presents both a challenge and an opportunity to practitioners of international criminal justice. The article also argues that, irrespective of the Syrian case, international criminal law (ICL) institutions are in need of innovation and that increasingly ICL discourses display a blurring between public and private idioms. Evaluating the contribution of the Commission of International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) is one way then of assessing how ICL might evolve. This article characterizes CIJA’s work as exemplifying ‘entrepreneurial justice’, not only in Syria but also in a range of other (post-)conflict settings. We can define entrepreneurial justice as the identification of a gap or weakness in existing public accountability fora and the creation of a new private or privatized organization and/or approach that seeks to address (at least part of) this gap. Although questions remain about CIJA’s own accountability, along with its potential contribution to realizing accountability, this article suggests that its presence within the ICL field is a necessary one and that it has already started to have effects within Syria and beyond.
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Koleva, Petya Mitkova, and Henrik Vigh. "Critical stasis and disruptive performances: ICJ and the Anwar R trial in Koblenz." Theoretical Criminology 25, no. 3 (May 7, 2021): 437–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/13624806211008573.
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This article explores the extraterritorial criminal court case against Anwar R, a high-ranking member of the Syrian regime on trial for crimes against humanity in Koblenz, Germany. Empirically anchored in ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Koblenz and with the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, the article illuminates the trial as a ‘disruptive performance’. The case against Anwar R punctuates two instances of negative stasis and unsettles two accounts of chronicity, namely, those of the Syrian conflict and of the field of international criminal justice. In order to illuminate the trial as a disruptive performance, the article empirically situates the Koblenz case both in relation to the Syrian war that it relates to, to the international criminal justice apparatus that it is a part of and to the underlying compilation of evidence that substantiates it. It thus clarifies both the symbolic potential and the constitutive process that has brought it into being.
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Radeva, Elena. "The Potential for Computer Vision to Advance Accountability in the Syrian Crisis." Journal of International Criminal Justice 19, no. 1 (March 1, 2021): 131–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqab015.
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Abstract This article explores a novel approach to technology-enabled review of evidentiary material implemented by the United Nations International, Independent and Impartial Mechanism – Syria ('IIIM – Syria’ or ‘the Mechanism’). The Mechanism’s objective in pursuing automation is to significantly accelerate the speed and improve the consistency of review and analysis of large, digitized documentary data sets used in the pursuit of accountability for crimes committed in Syria. This approach represents one of the first uses of Computer Vision applied to documentary evidence in the field of international criminal investigations and is a tangible example of public–private cooperation developing meaningful technology-based upon modern best practices. The article first discusses why technological innovation in investigative analysis is necessary in relation to the Syrian conflict. Next, the article reviews the approach adopted by IIIM – Syria towards applying existing and novel technology in the processing, preservation, and analysis of evidentiary material. Specifically, it explores how the organization executed a novel approach to technology-enabled review of evidentiary material through the application of Computer Vision techniques designed by forensic and eDiscovery experts. Finally, the article explores the wider investigative possibilities presented by the use of Computer Vision as a technique for analytical review.
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Barbour, Stephanie. "Supporting Accountability for Sexual Violence in the Syria and Iraq Conflicts." Journal of International Criminal Justice 18, no. 2 (May 1, 2020): 397–423. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqaa004.
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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.
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O'Meara, Chris. "SHOULD INTERNATIONAL LAW RECOGNIZE A RIGHT OF HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION?" International and Comparative Law Quarterly 66, no. 2 (February 20, 2017): 441–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0020589317000057.
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AbstractThe ongoing Syrian civil war calls for a re-evaluation of using force to protect human rights. This article does not rake over the much-debated issue of whether a right of humanitarian intervention exists as lex lata. Instead, it addresses the little reviewed normative issue of whether the right should exist in international law to support and reflect a pluralistic understanding of sovereignty. Despite advancements in international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law, this wider fabric of international law preserves Westphalian sovereignty and the principle of non-intervention. It denies any right of humanitarian intervention.
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Ritscher, Christian. "COVID-19 and International Crimes Trials in Germany." Journal of International Criminal Justice 18, no. 5 (November 1, 2020): 1077–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqaa055.
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Abstract With the appearance of the COVID-19 virus, the world faces new challenges in almost every area of social life. Social distancing and protection measures provide new challenges in business relations. This also holds true for criminal trials in general, and for international criminal trials, in particular. In Germany, several trials concerning charges of crimes under international law, established by the German Code of Crimes Against International Law (Völkerstrafgesetzbuch), are currently in progress. In particular, the trial against two former Syrian intelligence officers, which is currently taking place before the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, has received international attention and will possibly be affected by the restrictions imposed.
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Cardinal, Monique. "Why Aren't Women Sharī'a Court Judges? The Case of Syria." Islamic Law and Society 17, no. 2 (2010): 185–214. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/092893809x12574201282954.
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AbstractWomen make up 14% of the judiciary in Syria and work at all levels of the ordinary courts, both civil and criminal. However, they do not hold office in the personal status courts, special courts that apply codified religious law. This essay presents all opinions, both majority and minority, that explain the legal and social reasons for the non-appointment of women to the Muslim personal status courts known as sharī'a courts. I discuss how religious texts and classical Islamic legal doctrine are used today to undermine women's judicial power and oppose their appointment to the ordinary courts. If a woman cannot act as a sharī'a court judge, then who can? I attempt to answer this all-important question within the Syrian context. The main source of data is interviews conducted with eighty judges and public prosecutors of Damascus and Aleppo between May 2004 and July 2007.
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Zimmermann, Andreas, and Meltem Şener. "Chemical Weapons and the International Criminal Court." American Journal of International Law 108, no. 3 (July 2014): 436–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.5305/amerjintelaw.108.3.0436.
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When the contracting parties to the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court met in Kampala in 2010 to discuss possible amendments to the statute, the main focus was, and has thereafter remained, on the crime of aggression. In addition to amending the statute to include the crime of aggression, however, the contracting parties amended Article 8 of the statute to include a broader range of war crimes in noninternational armed conflicts over which the ICC can have jurisdiction—inter alia, by including the use of chemical weapons. Although the latter amendment received much less attention from both the Kampala drafters and outside observers than the former, it is the use of chemical weapons that has come most quickly into play in world events. In particular, the use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces in 2013 (and perhaps subsequently) has acutely raised questions concerning the extent of the ICC’s treaty-based jurisdiction, both under the unamended text of the Rome Statute or in situations where the amendment to Article 8 applies. These events have also provoked consideration concerning the Security Council’s legal powers to extend the ICC’s jurisdiction to certain crimes involving chemical weapons that would otherwise be beyond its subject matter jurisdiction. These questions are considered in this Note.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Syrian criminal law"
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Radwan, Hamsa. "Le discernement comme condition de la responsabilité pénale : droit pénal comparé français et syrien." Thesis, Reims, 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019REIMD005.
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Le discernement est une notion située à la frontière du droit, de la psychologie, et de la la philosophie, l’analyse juridique de cette notion nécessite donc une lecture psychologique et philosophique de ce terme. En tant que notion complexe, le discernement, qui est défini comme la capacité à distinguer entre le bien et le mal, peut être confondu avec d’autres notions avec lesquelles il existe des points communs. Tel est le cas de l’élément moral de l’infraction.Il nous paraît indispensable de déterminer quelle est la place du discernement au sein de la théorie pénale. Les questions qui relèvent de notre recherche sont dés lors les suivantes : Faut-il attacher le discernement à la théorie de l’infraction ou bien à la théorie de l’imputabilité ? Quelles conséquences entraîne le défaut de discernement sur la responsabilité pénale de l’agent ? Ces conséquences sont-elles identiques en droit français et en droit syrien ? Enfin, quelles réponses alternatives sont adoptées dans les deux systèmes pénaux à défaut de responsabilité?Discernment is a concept that marks the boundaries between law, psychology and philosophy. Therefore, the legal analysis of this notion must be understood within a psychological and philosophical framework. Discernment is a particularly complex notion. It is defined as the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. It may be confused with other notions with which it overlaps, such as criminal intent.It is therefore, indispensable to situate discernment in criminal legal theory. Thus, the following issues will be addressed in this thesis: Should discernment be linked to the legal understanding of what constitutes an offence, of to the theory of accountability? What are the consequences of the lack of discernment on the criminal liability of the offence perpetrator? Are these consequences similar in French law and in Syrian law? And lastly, when there is no criminal liability, what are the alternatives responses thesis shall look for alternatives responses provided for in both criminal law systems?
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Diwan, Naazneen S. "Female Legal Subjects And Excused Violence: Male Collective Welfare Through State-Sanctioned Discipline In The Levantine French Mandate And Metropolis." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1222186748.
Full textBooks on the topic "Syrian criminal law"
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(Organization), Human Rights Watch. Far from justice: Syria's Supreme State Security Court. New York, NY: Human Rights Watch, 2009.
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(Organization), Human Rights Watch. Far from justice: Syria's Supreme State Security Court. New York, NY: Human Rights Watch, 2009.
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Neistat, Anna. "By all means necessary!": Individual and command responsibility for crimes against humanity in Syria. New York: Human Rights Watch, 2011.
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Van Schaack, Beth. Imagining Justice for Syria. Oxford University Press, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190055967.001.0001.
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This book situates the war in Syria within the actual and imagined system of international criminal justice. It explores the legal impediments and diplomatic challenges that have led to the fatal trinity that is Syria: the massive commission of international crimes that are subject to detailed investigations and documentation but whose perpetrators have enjoyed virtually complete impunity. The book tracks a number of accountability solutions to this tragic state of affairs that are being explored within multilateral gatherings, by states, and by civil society actors, including innovations of institutional design; the reactivation of a range of domestic jurisdictional principles (including universal jurisdiction in Europe); the emergence of creative investigative and documentation techniques, technologies, and organizations; and the rejection of state consent as a precondition for the exercise of jurisdiction. Engaging both law and policy around international justice, the text offers a set of justice blueprints, within and without the International Criminal Court. It also considers the utility, propriety, and practicality of establishing an ad hoc tribunal and pursuing a transitional justice program without a genuine political transition. All told, the book attempts to capture the creative energy radiating from members of the international community intent on advancing the accountability norm in Syria even in the face of geopolitical blockages within the U.N. Security Council. In so doing, it presents the range of juridical measures—both criminal and civil—that are available to the international community to respond to the crisis, if only the political will existed.
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Kriangsak, Kittichaisaree. Part III Epilogue and Reflections, 8 Conclusions and the Way Forward. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198823292.003.0008.
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The chapter describes international efforts to close the gaps in existing treaties on the obligation to extradite or prosecute. These include: (i) the joint initiative for the adoption of a new international instrument on mutual legal assistance and extradition for the effective investigation and prosecution of the most serious crimes of international concern, in particular, the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, by domestic jurisdictions; and (ii) the International Law Commission's work on a draft convention on Crimes against Humanity. The chapter also explores the issue of capacity building for the national judiciary and a regional judicial mechanism to help alleviate the burden of the International Criminal Court; national peace/reconciliation, international peace/stability, and other considerations against the implementation of the obligation to extradite or prosecute; the operation of transitional justice as an alternative to prosecution; and the implications of the atrocities in Syria for the future prospects of this obligation in the context of international criminal justice.
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Tofan, C., and W. Van Der Wolf. Law and War in Syria: A Legal Account of the Current Crisis in Syria. International Courts Association, 2013.
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Dixon, Martin, Robert McCorquodale, and Sarah Williams. Cases & Materials on International Law. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/he/9780198727644.001.0001.
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Cases and Materials on International Law, a topical companion for study placing international law directly in the context of contemporary debate, offers broad coverage of international law, and is suitable for use alongside a range of course structures and teaching styles. The book provides readers with a comprehensive selection of case law extracts for their studies. Extracts have been chosen from a wide range of historical and contemporary cases to illustrate the reasoning processes of the courts and to show how legal principles are developed. The book contains the essential cases and materials needed in order to understand and analyse the international legal order, providing notes on selected extracts to explain the complexities of the law. The sixth edition provides expanded coverage of topical areas such as: the use of force in Iraq and Syria and the threat of terrorism; international criminal law and the International Criminal Court; and developments in human rights and international environmental law. The new edition considers the perspectives of non-western and feminist scholars. It also updates core areas of international law, including sovereignty over territory and judicial sovereignty, the law of the sea, state responsibility, international legal personality and peaceful settlement.
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Rodenhäuser, Tilman. Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198821946.003.0001.
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The general introduction sets the scene for the legal issues addressed in this book by presenting their relevance in most recent conflicts and other situations of violence, including in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, the Central African Republic, and Kenya. It also introduces the legal framework the book sets out to examine, notably international humanitarian law, human rights law, and international criminal law. The introductory chapter further presents the book’s methodology, introduces its structure, and explains key terms and concepts. These include, in particular, the terms ‘non-state armed group’, ‘international legal personality’, and ‘degree of organization’, which are especially relevant throughout the book.
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Carstens, Anne-Marie, and Elizabeth Varner, eds. Intersections in International Cultural Heritage Law. Oxford University Press, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198846291.001.0001.
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The recent threats to cultural heritage, including in Iraq, Mali, Nepal, Syria, and Yemen, has led to increased focus on the sources of international cultural heritage law. This volume reflects that this is not a discrete and contained body of law, but rather a diverse one whose components are drawn from—and often developed and contained within—public international law. These ‘intersections’ have formed in two ways: when public international law has been used to provide greater protection for cultural heritage; and when concern for cultural heritage protection or codification of rules within cultural heritage-centric instruments have helped fuel developments within other areas of public international law. In this volume, scholars and practitioners explore some of the primary points of intersection where international cultural heritage law and public international law converge. The contributions are organized according to five major ‘intersections’: (1) the Law of Armed Conflict and the Protection of Cultural Heritage; (2) Cultural Heritage-Based Offenses in International Criminal Law and in Laws for Combatting Transnational Organized Crime; (3) the United Nations System and the Protection of Cultural Heritage; (4) Special Legal Regimes for the World Cultural Heritage and Underwater Cultural Heritage; and (5) Intersections of International, National, and Community Interests in Cultural Heritage. The result is a diverse and cohesive collection that explores these intersections and examines how the regimes operate together and how the relationship between them largely facilitates, but also sometimes hinders, the development of international law governing the protection of cultural heritage.
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Provost, René. Rebel Courts. Oxford University Press, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190912222.001.0001.
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Rebel Courts presents an argument that it is possible for non-state armed groups in situations of armed conflict to legally establish and operate a system of courts to administer justice. Neither the concept of the rule of law nor the general principle of state sovereignty stands in the way of framing an understanding of the rule of law adapted to the reality of rebel governance in the area of justice. Legal standards applicable to non-state armed groups in situations of international or non-international armed conflict, including international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and international criminal law, recognise their authority to regularly constitute or establish non-state courts. The lawful operation of such courts is of course subject to requirements of due process, corresponding to an array of guarantees that must be respected in all cases. Rebel courts that are regularly constituted and operate in a manner consistent with due process guarantees demand a certain degree of recognition by international institutions, by states not involved in the conflict, to some extent by the territorial state, and even by other non-state armed groups. These normative claims are grounded in a series of detailed case studies of the administration of justice by non-state armed groups in a diverse range of conflict situations, including the FARC (Colombia), Islamic State (Syria and Iraq), Taliban (Afghanistan), Tamil Tigers (Sri Lanka), PKK (Turkey), PYD (Syria), and KRG (Iraq).
Book chapters on the topic "Syrian criminal law"
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Van Schaack, Beth. "Civil Suits." In Imagining Justice for Syria, edited by Michael N. Schmitt, Shane R. Reeves, Winston S. Williams, and Sasha Radin, 315–39. Oxford University Press, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190055967.003.0008.
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Rounding out the matrix of accountability, chapter 8 presents several nonpenal options to bring justice to Syria, including civil suits in domestic courts against responsible individuals and entities and options for exercising jurisdiction over the sovereign state of Syria. Because there is no notion of state criminality under international law, only civil claims seeking money damages can be advanced against sovereign states. Jurisdiction over Syria exists before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; however, so far no state has been willing to take Syria to task before the ICJ. And so, victims must bear this burden. In this regard, some tort law options exist in domestic courts, especially in the United States with its suite of statutes giving its domestic courts jurisdiction over certain international law violations in certain circumstances. This chapter features a groundbreaking suit against Syria under the United States’ Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which resulted in a $300 million judgment for the surviving family members of Marie Colvin, the intrepid war correspondent assassinated by the Syrian regime. The chapter observes that although civil remedies are no substitute for vigorous criminal liability, these suits do extend victims some dignitary benefits that may not accrue with participation in a criminal process, even as a partie civile, including the opportunity to control the litigation process and act where the public authorities may be unable or unwilling to do so.
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Roux, Mispa, and Kriyanka Reddi. "Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in the Context of the Syrian Armed Conflict and the Question of Individual Criminal Responsibility for Perpetrators." In Select Essays on Governance and Accountability Issues in Public Law, 123–62. African Sun Media, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/9781928480792/05.
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Provost, René. "The Legal Rayonnement of Rebel Justice: Recognition, Complementarity, and Kurdish Courts." In Rebel Courts, 355–451. Oxford University Press, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190912222.003.0005.
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Chapter 4 analyses the possible legal recognition of insurgent justice by other actors, using the judicial practice of three independent Kurdish non-state armed groups in the Middle East as a case study. The Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK, Kurdistan Workers’ Party) has been engaged in a bitter armed struggle with Turkey since 1984, with rear bases in northern Iraq and Syria. The Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat (PYD, Democratic Union Party) is a Kurdish insurgent group that joined the anti-Assad uprising of 2011 and now controls parts of the north-east part of Syria, in a precarious coexistence with the Syrian government. Finally, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has operated independently since 1991 and remain in a military standoff with the central Iraqi government. All three Kurdish groups operate courts at trial and appeal levels, for civil and criminal matters. The chapter considers the possible application of the principle of complementarity under the Rome Statute in relation to a prosecution before the courts of a non-state armed groups. Likewise, the right or duty of third states under international law to give recognition to the operation of insurgent courts is examined. More radically perhaps, there is a possibility that even the territorial state might in some cases give legal effect to rebel court decisions. Finally, the Kurdish courts offer examples in which one non-state armed group is confronted with the need to determine the validity of the decisions of courts of other armed insurgents.
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Van Schaack, Beth. "A Menu of Models." In Imagining Justice for Syria, edited by Michael N. Schmitt, Shane R. Reeves, Winston S. Williams, and Sasha Radin, 211–64. Oxford University Press, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190055967.003.0006.
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Given the limited availability of the International Criminal Court (ICC) when it comes to the crimes being committed in Syria, chapter 6 presents an array of legal theories and practical modalities for exercising international jurisdiction that do not involve the ICC or the U.N. Security Council, including a number of innovative paradigms for creating a dedicated ad hoc international tribunal. These options include the potential for a subset of states to pool their respective jurisdictional competencies to create a tribunal reminiscent of the Nuremberg Tribunal. Other available models include additional action at the U.N. General Assembly; a regional tribunal within the League of Arab States; a tribunal created by way of an international agreement among interested states; trials before specialized chambers in liberated areas within Syria or within neighboring states with varying degrees of international involvement; or the building of a shell of a special chamber that could be eventually inserted into the Syrian judicial system post-transition. Any of these models could incorporate various elements of hybridity. The chapter argues that many of these models offer a better option for the situation in Syria than the ICC given the extent and nature of the international crimes being committed (war crimes in a largely non-international armed conflict) and limitations within the ICC’s subject matter and personal jurisdiction. The chapter closes with a pragmatic discussion of steps that the international community could have taken to lay the groundwork for any of the models discussed, even prior to the end of the conflict or a political transition in Syria.