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Syria’s transitional government took initial steps in 2025 to advance justice and accountability for crimes and abuses committed by the former government, Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2026.
Syrian authorities created new government bodies on transitional justice to account for thousands of missing people in Syria.
In its World Report 2026, a 529-page review of human rights practices in more than 100 countries.
Human Rights Watch said the authorities have made justice and accountability a priority but warned the efforts cannot be “selective or one-sided.”
Adam Coogle, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Middle East director, said that to move Syria into a new, rights-respecting era, Syrian authorities should comprehensively account for abuses by all sides before and after December 2024, examining not just individual crimes but also institutional responsibility.
Human Rights Watch said a constitutional declaration in March affirmed judicial independence.
The group said the government needs key legal and institutional frameworks to prosecute serious international crimes and address command responsibility.
The group said authorities have met with civil society groups on accountability and included several justice experts in nationally mandated commissions, but need to clarify how victims and stakeholders will be meaningfully included in shaping and participating in accountability processes.
Human Rights Watch said deployments of government forces in 2025 in response to attacks and armed violence in Latakia, Tartous and Hama governorates in March and in Sweida governorate in July resulted in a wave of identity-based violence.
The group said Syrian authorities credibly investigated the incidents but provided little transparency about the role of senior military or civilian leaders or how those with command authority would be held to account.
HRW's executive director, Philippe Bolopion, warned that the human rights system is under "unprecedented threat."
He called on democracies and civil society to build a strategic alliance to defend fundamental freedoms.
Human Rights Watch also noted that in 2025, the United States and the European Union terminated longstanding sanctions on Syria, describing it as a critical step toward improving Syrians’ access to fundamental socioeconomic rights and rebuilding after years of conflict.
The group said that despite the change, over 90 percent of Syrians live below the poverty line and more than half struggle to access adequate food and require aid.
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