Innovations in ICL Documentation Methodologies and Institutions
This chapter moves from this matrix of accountability to the emergent evidentiary landscape for atrocity crimes litigation. Chapter 9 thus surveys the various multilateral, national, and civil society documentation projects underway with an eye toward capturing new technological developments, analytical outputs, and public-private partnerships that have given rise to an unprecedented cache of potential evidence of international crimes in Syria, making it the most documented crime base in human history. The Syrian conflict coincided with the explosion of social media and digital technologies that render ordinary people capable of capturing the commission of international crimes on their cellphones. This surfeit of potential evidence has created both opportunities and challenges to accountability. Although not all this information will be admissible in a court of law, it has the potential to contribute to a range of transitional justice processes, including restitution and lustration efforts. This chapter is premised on the observation that when the Syrian conflict ends—which it must at some point—the documentation exists to undergird a comprehensive set of transitional justice processes if there is political will to undertake such an endeavor.