CIVICUS discusses Syria’s political transition and its implications for refugees with a representative of the Access Center for Human Rights (ACHR) who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons. Founded in Lebanon in 2017 and re-established in France in 2020, ACHR is a refugee-led civil society organisation (CSO) that monitors and document human rights violations and advocates for refugee rights in host countries and their voluntary, dignified and safe return to their country of origin.
Six months after the fall of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has established a temporary constitution and a transitional cabinet dominated by people drawn from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist militant group, but also including technocrats, representatives of minorities and former Assad-era officials. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for September but the transition has brought uncertainty for civil society and millions of Syrian refugees, with refugee resettlement efforts facing challenges that include inadequate legal safeguards, crumbling infrastructure and persistent insecurity.