Human rights lawyers have urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open a preliminary investigation into alleged mass deportations by Syrian authorities, in an attempt to hold President Bashar al-Assad's regime accountable for atrocities carried out during the country's bloody civil war.
On Thursday, a group of lawyers said it filed requests with the ICC on behalf of 28 victims who were forced across the border into Jordan, according to a statement by UK law firm Stoke White.
Lawyer Toby Cadman said legal experts at the Guernica Centre for International Justice argued that a precedent set last year in a case involving the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar could be used to give the ICC jurisdiction over at least part of the Syrian conflict.
That case focussed on Muslim Rohingya driven out from Myanmar, which is not an ICC member, into Bangladesh, which is and the ICC ruled it had jurisdiction to look at a range of allegations against Myanmar's security forces.
Syria, however, is not a member of the ICC and thus the court has no jurisdiction in the country.
That has meant that numerous allegations of atrocities committed during the conflict have not been prosecuted at the world's first permanent criminal tribunal, something that Cadman wants to change.
Groundbreaking ICC ruling
Cadman, together with other lawyers, handed over a file to prosecutors this week arguing that the ICC could exercise jurisdiction over Syrian civilians forced into Jordan, which is a member of the court.
"The same principle [used for Myanmar and Bangladesh] should apply to Syria and Jordan," said Cadman, who added that atrocities committed by Syrian government forces forced about a million civilians to flee into Jordan.
The threat of more mistreatment, if they return, is preventing them from returning home, he said.
"What we are trying to do is to highlight the crimes committed against these people in the right platform, that is the ICC," said Hakan Camuz, who is with Stoke White.
Camuz said they have been investigating crimes against civilians in Syria for the last two years and have "submitted all evidence collected to the ICC prosecutors".
"The very people who actually committed these heinous crimes think they have somehow impunity," he added.
In a statement, Stoke White said the case would also "focus on the wider pattern of attacks and crimes against the civilian population in Syria including torture, rape, chemical attacks and disappearances in order to establish the full breadth of the systematic violations of which the deportations form a part".
The ICC is a court of last resort, which steps in only when national authorities are unable or unwilling to prosecute alleged crimes.
In a written response, the ICC prosecutor's office confirmed it had received the filing and said it would analyse the material.
"As soon as we reach a decision on the appropriate next step, we will inform the sender and provide reasons for our decision," the office said.
The ICC and its chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda have faced criticism in recent years after a series of failed prosecutions. Addressing crimes in Syria could help restore faith in the court and its prosecutor, Cadman said.
"I think this is this is an opportunity for her to really establish the credibility of her office," he said.
