From Türkiye to Damascus: working with survivors of Syrian detention

ADMSP co-founder Riyad Avlar is keenly aware of the trauma held by survivors of Syrian detention. He was detained for 21 years, including a decade in Sednaya prison - an infamous symbol of the Assad regime’s brutality.  

Established in 2017, ADMSP works with survivors across southern Türkiye. At its core is a commitment to justice – just one form of reparation to which survivors are entitled. Since his release, Riyad and his team have painstakingly documented atrocities and collected detainee testimonies, compiled a database of the missing, and provided survivors with psychosocial support to rebuild their lives. 

GSF and ADMSP began delivering interim reparative measures together in 2022, reaching more than 821 people, all of whom received psychological support. Following consultations on their preferred measures, survivors chose to receive financial compensation. Many chose to use this to start or expand small businesses, while others pursued training and education.  

The results of the project have been recorded in a 20-minute documentary following survivors such as Ghazwan, a baker from Deir ez-Zor.

The project created both individual and collective change: some survivors returned to education, or employed community members in their growing businesses. As GSF’s country coordinator Sabreen Shalabi explains, it also enabled them to speak about what they endured. “In this community, there is stigma tied to having experienced detention. These discussions usually don’t happen, but survivors felt they had a safe space and could trust it.” 

The project in Türkiye included many firsts. It was the first time GSF delivered emergency measures, responding to the February 2023 earthquake which killed more than 56,000 people and destroyed large areas of southern Türkiye and northern Syria. For ADMSP, a survivor-led organisation, the project was also the first time ADMSP experienced the benefits of co-creation, as explained by Riyad: 

“The IRM [interim reparative measures] is a complete circle...and survivors were at the centre of everything. We asked them – we know you were there; you don’t need to tell us about the violations. But what kind of little justice would you like?”

‘Liberty pathway’ 

The Assad regime leaves behind a long and bloody legacy of arrests, tortures and killings. The Syrian people were subjected to all manners of atrocities and violations, including forced disappearances, for decades.  

As our project ended in December, monumental change was underway in the country. In the space of a week, 50 years of dictatorship crumbled. President Bashar Al-Assad, who personally ordered the torture and execution of detainees, fled the country, and the doors to secret detention sites and prisons opened. Although numbers are still to be confirmed, from them emerged more than 8,000 people, subjected to extreme suffering and torture, including sexual violence. More than 100,000 people are still missing.  

ADMSP staff got to work as 12,000 families began calling for help, hoping to locate their loved ones. Doctors reached out, offering to take in newly released survivors. But after more than a decade of war and sanctions, Riyad says, means are limited; hospitals have no anaesthetic, and families no money to pay for medicine. While many survivors are admitted to mental health hospitals, trauma-informed care is scarce, with few specialists trained in the approach needed to address the immense suffering they have endured. Desperation has driven some to suicide.  

At ADMSP’s newly opened office in Damascus, families of the missing gather for group activities, finding a place to share and even mourn. Across Syria, ADMSP is providing emergency financial support to the most vulnerable survivors and connecting them with services – including medical treatment from the Syrian Red Crescent. Working in Syria “will be a whole different ball game,” says Sabreen. Many survivors cannot return home – they face widespread stigma, or were detained before the age of mobile phones and have no way of contacting their families. Others “have no house to search for.” 

One of the biggest challenges will be addressing the deep-rooted trauma survivors endure, and its surrounding stigma. If left unaddressed, Riyad says, survivors may focus on revenge in the place of justice and their own recovery. Interim reparative measures, especially mental health support, can build survivors’ resolve, and in turn, strengthen their fight for justice and reparation. “I saw it myself, how people change,” he adds. “The important thing is to let them feel that they are the centre of everything. Let them lead themselves.” 

Despite the challenges, Sabreen says working in the country is the “prime opportunity” to set the stage for what survivor-centred reparations can look like, building from the success of the interim measures in Türkiye. “Nobody knows what’s going to repair their lives like survivors themselves,” she explained. “It was the sense of survivors leading the project that really made a difference.”