Syria:

Empowering Civil Society and Independent Media to build a new and democratic Syria

The fall of Bashar El Assad and the Syrian regime at the beginning of December 2024 put an end to decades of dictatorship, fierce repression, and the most serious human rights violations.

This historic moment offers a significant window of opportunity for Syrian civil society to contribute to building a new democratic Syria and for the international community, including donors, to reinforce support to Syrian civil society and independent media. These actors have a vital role to play in this period of transition, not only as safeguards and watchdogs, but also as an active force to push for the construction and emergence of a democratic Syria respectful of all its components without any discrimination. It is their shared responsibility to shape this transitional phase that can cement future democracy standards.

Existing networks of Syrian civil society, including many of EED’s partners, provide for a strong network, capable of incubating and fostering a just and a gradual democratic transition in Syria and of navigating the significant challenges that lie ahead.

Challenges faced by civil society in the initial period

EED’s partners have identified the initial challenges that will inform the focus of their work.

Firstly, it will be vital to rebuild trust among different communities, given the 13 years of conflict, local military conflicts, risks of potential sectarian violence and retaliation against communities and individuals considered as supportive of the regime, and tensions that may result from the return of IDPs and refugees, among others.

Secondly, civil society must push for accountability, rule of law and the design and implementation of a political transition roadmap to ensure a fair and inclusive criminal and transitional justice. They must commit to a political transition roadmap that complies with relevant provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which includes a new constitution and free and fair elections.

Thirdly, it is vital to encourage good governance and efficient and transparent institutions, by focusing on local governance and institutions and pushing for community participation and engagement of all sectors of society.

Finally, there will need to be a focus on fighting mis- and dis-information and promoting access to free and independent information, by supporting the consolidation of independent local media.

Emergency Grant scheme for Syrian partners launched

At its December meeting, the EED Executive Committee approved an Emergency Grant scheme for EED’s Syrian partners, enabling EED to provide fast top-up and emergency grants to existing or former grantees, so that they could seize the momentum of this huge change.

In this new evolving situation, civil society and activists will need to intervene on multiple levels in a very complex context while also adapting to the new political, military and security situation.

To date, EED has provided emergency grants to actors from across Syria to help them to increase their capacity and respond to significantly increased needs. Many of EED’s partners have already conducted assessment missions and have travelled back to previously inaccessible regions. They are reconnecting with partners and are exploring opportunities for work that reflect society’s needs.

Top-up support has been provided to EED’s partner, Syrians for Truth and Justice, to enable the team to expand their work in regions and localities previously under the control of the regime and to monitor recent and ongoing violations affecting local communities, particularly vulnerable groups and minorities. They will continue their work of collecting evidence and testimonies of victims of violations of the last decade.

EED is also supporting three media initiatives, a local community media, a more established radio station focused on gender equality and women’s rights, and a fact-checking platform. The objective is to enable these platforms to expand their coverage and reach in accordance with the new reality. This work is vital given increased risks of disinformation.

Supporting Syrian civil society since 2013

Since 2013, EED has supported many Syrian initiatives across the country and in exile, and they represent a solid network of democracy advocates, including civil society actors, grassroots initiatives, media and media-related initiatives.

In the past years, while general donor support to Syrian civil society decreased, EED’s approach was to help local actors to maintain the civic space built since 2011, despite the odds. EED has continuously adapted its support to Syrian pro-democracy groups and actors to meet their needs amidst continuous volatility. Against the backdrop of a shrinking civic space under all de-facto authorities, EED’s ability to provide flexible and discreet support was essential.

EED’s support to Syrian democracy actors has included:

Support to community-based civic actors, that sensitise and empower local communities, including actors such as Justice for Life, that focused on civic participation of local communities in the north-east of Syria, and Equity and Empowerment, working on women’s civic engagement in Idlib.

Support to document and report human rights violations, including Syrians for Truth and Justice that fills gaps by covering human rights issues and violations that generally go unreported and closely monitoring the human rights situation in the north of the country; and Access Centre for Human Rights based in Lebanon, that documents violations of Syrian refugees’ rights and conducts awareness raising efforts on systematic infringements.

Support to independent media to enable them to provide diverse narratives, counter widespread propaganda, fight hate speech, raise awareness on important topics and foster dialogues. This has been crucial in a country where freedom of press is among the worst in the world (second to last according to the ranking of Reporters without Borders in 2024).¹ Partners include: Al-Jumhuriya, one of the most successful Syrian independent media outlets that is a leading actor of a regional network of seven like-minded media outlets, The February network, as well as leading investigative journalists, and local and community media that play a significant role in reporting on events in the regions, some of whom are profiled in this report. (See also Special: “Community media fostering democracy in the Middle East and North Africa” on page 58)

In February 2023, following the earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria, EED put in place a framework that enabled the EED Secretariat to provide additional resources and to respond flexibly to the increasing needs of former and current grantees, enabling independent media platforms and civil society organisations to expand their work at this crucial moment.

1 Reporters Without Borders 2024, https://rsf.org/en/country/syria