Syria Policy

For a long period of the Syrian conflict, Emma worked on policy and peace-building efforts to secure a negotiated resolution to the conflict and alleviate its impacts on those most affected by it. While this work was broad in scope, the following is a sampling of a few of those lines of effort and their component parts and impact.

Special Initiatives:

Breaking Reports: Breaking Aleppo and Breaking Ghouta were detailed reports into the breaking of sieges in two of Syria's largest formerly rebel-controlled areas. These reports were quick turnaround and used a mixed methodology approach to research, bringing together a wide range of sources into detailed, accurate, forensic reports into the military efforts deployed to break these sieges. They represent a historical record that went beyond the maelstrom of daily news headlines and created a dossier for use in diplomacy, justice, collective memory, and public advocacy in the weeks and months after these events. 

Syria in Context: From 2018 to 2021, Emma co-founded and wrote a briefing newsletter for policymakers and practitioners working on the conflict. This provided a vital information source with weekly updates, running themes, and deep dives. It also included practical, operational advice on how these events related to policy-making and peace-building so that those working on the conflict could best use this product in their work. Diplomats, aid workers, journalists, academics, and mediators alike relied on this resource and found it to be a vital component of their daily work. 

Diplomat/Officials Information Events: In 2021 and 2022, Emma devised and ran "Immersive Information Events" for news starters working on Syria within the diplomatic core and international agencies. The high churn in these sectors and the protracted nature of the conflict meant that every summer when a new crop of staff would arrive, it would further reduce institutional memory within key states and agencies. This effort aspired to mitigate the risks presented by the shallow contextual understanding and embed a basic knowledge and understanding of the conflict and its history and dynamics so that those working on it could be most effective in the shortest time. 

Larger Workstreams:

Peace Process: Emma looked to support efforts to secure a comprehensive, rights-based, and lasting peace in Syria in accordance with UNSCR 2254  by pursuing lines of efforts that would either maintain or expand the space for peace or which were critical conflict drivers or barriers to peace. Thematic areas of work underpinned these efforts, with an umbrella programme of work designed to surface the various thematic strands into overarching support for the peace process itself. Emma provided information and detailed analysis on all aspects of the political file. She worked tirelessly to identify potential entry points and draft detailed negotiation strategies and asks for negotiators, which were adopted at the highest levels. This support was provided through the UN process and bilaterally to key states and Syrian actors in the negotiations. Where events changed or altered, Emma seized on opportunities to end the conflict or reduce civilian suffering as a result [more info by request] 

Refugees and Displacement: Syria is one of the most significant displacement crises in the world, with, at times, half of the pre-war population displaced inside and outside the country. Around 6.5M refugees live in the neighbouring countries and Europe. Throughout the conflict, displacement was used as a tactic of war, and forced displacement was used as a way of breaking the siege, with little thought given to the rights and future reintegration of those populations. Emma’s work focused on maintaining the protection space for refugees and IDPs in places of displacement and ensuring their rights and needs were centered in all policy strands, including peace negotiations. For years, Emma produced detailed work on the experiences of returning refugees and briefed this to the UNHCR, UN agencies, diplomats, asylum judges, and other relevant parties. Emma produced detailed frameworks of the significant changes in legal, political, and security structures that would be needed to facilitate refugee return and pushed for these to be actioned through all workstreams.  [more info by request].

Housing Land and Property: Housing, land, and property grievances were drivers of the Syrian conflict, which were further consolidated during the conflict and will likely present a significant barrier to peace and reconciliation in the future. Despite this, it was daily late in the conflict before these concerns came to be widely understood or studied. For several years, Emma produced deep research into Syria’s HLP concerns that was used to brief diplomats, informed media coverage of the issue, shaped aid work and early recovery efforts, and was directly linked to peace process proposals and initiatives. Emma’s work focused on interventions that reduced harm, ensuring rights could be upheld in the future. [more info by request]. 
Highlights: In 2018, Emma produced a detailed report [not publicly released] that examined the issues surrounding Law 10 and HLP from the perspective of refugees. The report was briefed to a range of states bilaterally and at special meetings in Brussels hosted by Member States. The key recommendations were designed to prevent new rights abuses, preserving the space for productive negotiations and enhancing the chance of long term peace. The EU Parliament adopted them within two months of the report's release and later informed sections of US legislation about Syria. 

Detentions and SSR: The security sector is at the heart of most concerns in Syria. An in-depth understanding of how it functions on a day-to-day basis is essential to any policy effort in Syria, particularly those focused on the Rule of Law, peace negotiations, aid or reconstruction, refugee or IDP return or protection, or even HLP. For years, Emma produced deep research into the security sector and its impact on civilians, detainees, returning refugees and IPDs, and used this work to orientate the policy space toward this central concern, providing policy advice and support on Amnesties, the peace process, constitution, aid work and early recovery, justice and accountability, work to locate the missing, among other areas [more info by request]. 
Highlights: A years-long multidisciplinary research project into the Syrian security sector and its relationship to the Syrian civilian population over time and how this impacted the population, including an analysis of who was impacted, why, and how. A short version was published through MEI, 'Understanding the logic behind the Syrian regime’s violence', and an event was held in Washington, DC, to explain these findings, which were later shared with world-leading academics in this area. This work informed peace process proposals and analysis of Amnesties. 

Aid and Reconstruction: Syria’s aid response has been one of the largest and most complex in the world. Early in her work on Syria, Emma was interested in humanitarian action. Reporting on the human toll of war and the challenges humanitarians faced was a running theme, particularly as the sieges became tighter and the challenges facing aid workers became impossible. For years, Emma has been a central figure in the Syrian aid response, offering policy support, information, and guidance to INGOs, CSOs, UN agencies, diplomats and policymakers alike. She maintained a forensic knowledge and understanding of the response throughout, often linking officials to the information they needed to support the response best while also reducing harm [more info by request].
Highlights: In 2016, Emma produced a series of high-impact articles for The Guardian that began a suite of policy work on potential redlines. In 2019, when she reported on the role of Mother Agnes [a disinformation mouthpiece for the Assad regime] running and personally delivering protection programming in formerly-besieged areas, emma proposed the Regional Dialogue Mechanism and worked with stakeholders to launch it in 2021, following up to support and propose additional options to ensure diplomats were appropriately capacitated to use the mechanism to improve the response.