03/12/2025

“The Assad Chemical Era: securing a Future of Accountability and Non- Recurrence in Syria” A Side Event on the Margins of the Annual OPCW Conference of State Parties

The Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), in cooperation with the Syrian Legal Development Programme (SLDP), Women Now for Development, The Syria Campaign, and the Syrian Civil Society Networks Platform, organized a side event entitled “The Assad Chemical Era: Securing a Future of Accountability and Non-Recurrence” on the sidelines of the annual Conference of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, on 27 November 2025.

These efforts come as an extension of SCM’s long-standing work in documenting chemical weapons crimes and advancing transitional justice pathways. The event provided a shared space for Syrian civil society organizations, survivors and victims, and—for the first time—the Permanent Mission of Syria to the OPCW, to discuss mechanisms for coordinating national and international efforts to address the legacy of Assad’s chemical weapons crimes. The discussion emphasized ensuring that survivors and victims remain at the core of truth, justice, and accountability processes, and reaffirmed their active role in shaping these pathways as rights-holders entitled to truth, justice, reparations, and guarantees of non-recurrence.

The event was also attended by representatives of the permanent missions of OPCW State Parties, as well as international organizations and academic experts.