The crisis resulting from over a decade of violent conflict and ensuing economic crisis in Syria has resulted in over half of the population displaced, fragmentation of the country into various spheres of influence and the breakdown of many important social networks and institutions. Some affected or lost are those that help citizens resolve a range of disputes. Moreover, communities and families continue to suffer increasing interpersonal conflict related to housing, land and property (including inheritance), divorce and domestic challenges, and rights of women. Resolving such disputes is imperative to building resilience in households and the wider communities they are part of. Unaddressed disputes may lead to many types of challenges, increasing protection concerns of Syrians and preventing them from being able to rebuild their lives. On a larger scale, these disputes are destabilizing and may prevent Syria’s overall recovery.

International experiences and best practices from similar crisis contexts have demonstrated that the introduction and institutionalization of traditional, alternative or collaborative dispute resolution mechanisms and procedures effectively resolve various types of disputes. They provide an efficient and cost-effective approach to enable disputing parties to access and exercise their rights while increasing trust and cohesion at the community level. These approaches are rooted in local customs, providing individuals with a familiar means for conflict resolution, particularly for vulnerable people who likely are unable to access Syria’s limited court system. Prior to the onset of crisis in 2011, many disputes in Syria were settled by appeals to the judiciary, tribal or religious leaders, or community notables. However, Syria’s continued destabilization has significantly reduced institutional service provision. These factors have contributed to the breakdown of Syria’s social fabric and trust within many of its communities, decimating pre-existing community resolution mechanisms.

To respond to the current situation, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) initiated a project on social mediation to help Syrians living in vulnerable communities that lack these services. Research was conducted by UNDP to improve understanding of existing and accepted types of community mediation. UNDP developed and tested a model of collaborative dispute resolution (CDR) that can be expanded to provide dispute resolution services more broadly in Syria. The piloting of the CDR mechanism has proven the value of an out-of-court mechanism through which disputes may be resolved in an efficient manner. The CDR mechanism has contributed to the resolution of critical issues faced by households and their wider communities, creating a more stable environment at the local level. This has enabled many Syrians to embrace their rights and engage in peaceful resolutions, contributing to improved social cohesion and longer-term recovery for the community.

The CDR mechanism has provided many lessons learned that can be applied to other crisis contexts. It illustrates how building social cohesion through improved access to justice and community-based resolutions effectively contributes to overall peace and stability at the local level, thus strengthening long-term peacebuilding efforts at wider scales.

Source: UN Development Programme