The International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) is calling for a significant increase in international attention to the discovery, protection and investigation of mass graves worldwide, warning that urgent legal, forensic and humanitarian action is needed as new evidence emerges from multiple conflict zones.
Mass graves continue to be found globally, across recent and decades-old conflicts and situations of atrocity crimes often without proper forensic recovery, legal safeguarding or communication to families of the missing. In Ukraine, large sites were uncovered in Bucha and Izium in 2022 following the withdrawal of Russian forces. The same year, in Ethiopia, the remains of hundreds of people buried in mass graves were found in the western Tigray region. Recent satellite images from El Fasher in Sudan's Darfur region seem to show mass burials, suggesting that a significant number of killings took place as the city was overrun.
The collapse of the al-Assad regime in December 2024 enabled international access to Syria, where investigators have identified major burial sites, including a mass grave in al-Qutayfah, north of Damascus, believed to contain the remains of at least 100,000 people. Additional mass graves have also been discovered throughout the southern Damascus countryside and in southern Syria. Numerous additional graves across southern Syria remain unexcavated. These mass graves are said to include the remains of tens of thousands of people who were killed during the last regime, but also at the hands of Daesh and other terror organisations.
While mass graves can be found around the globe, the subject has not received the attention it requires. To raise awareness, at the end of October 2025, the IBAHRI hosted a Parliamentary session focused on mass grave protection and the use of evidence in accountability processes. Experts included Professor Melanie Klinkner, Professor in International Law at Bournemouth University, and the lead author of the Bournemouth Protocol on Mass Grave Protection and Investigation ; Rt Hon Alistair Burt, the UK's Commissioner on the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP); Rupert Skilbeck, Director of REDRESS ; and Dr Chantal Joubert of the Netherlands Ministry of Security and Justice.
Professor Klinkner said during the session that: 'Mass atrocities have long-lasting legacies; this includes mass graves. They are sites of loss, suffering and commemoration but also crime scenes that require protection and investigation for truth and justice efforts.' She highlighted the work of the Mass Grave Protection, Investigation & Engagement (MaGPIE) in developing a comprehensive human rights framework to guide states in the preservation and forensic investigation of burial sites. She said that evidence collected can be used in court proceedings, whether before domestic or international courts, including with the use of the principle of universal jurisdiction. While trials are ongoing in several countries applying a broad definition of universal jurisdiction, the UK's legal framework remains narrow and requires urgent legal reforms.
Mr Skilbeck noted: 'Universal Jurisdiction places a legal obligation on the UK to prosecute perpetrators of international crimes. The government needs to apply a consistent approach and actively promote international justice in the UK as well as around the world, through law reform, a more co-ordinated approach, and with clear political leadership.'
In several European countries, multiple prosecutions have already been brought against members of the al-Assad regime and of Daesh. Meanwhile, Syria's Commission for Missing Persons, established by the new government, is working with the International Commission on Missing Persons to advance accountability.
Rt Hon Alistair Burt underscored the human dimension of the work: 'ICMP experts have presented evidence in multiple war crimes trials, including the prosecution of Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadzic at the ICTY [ International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ]. This is not just a dry, judicial exercise. Those who have met the families of the missing, so often the women of the world, will understand what the identification of their loved ones means, a closure of the agony of 'not knowing', and a future which can be faced with at least one crushing weight removed.'
While transitional justice is still at work in Syria, evidence collected at mass graves could be shared with countries where trials are more likely to happen.
Chantal Joubert, MFA of the Netherlands, explained how the Ljubljana-Hague Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance can be relevant to evidence collected at mass grave sites. The Convention creates a global framework to help states cooperate by sharing information and evidence and assisting in investigations to reduce impunity. The treaty has been signed by 40 countries, with one country, Latvia, having ratified it. It will come into force when at least three countries ratify it, potentially generating support efforts to ensure justice and accountability for international crimes.
During the session, and on behalf of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on International Law, Justice and Accountability , Dr Ewelina Ochab, IBAHRI Senior Programme Lawyer, identified the priorities for the months ahead, including:
- supporting the efforts to find the missing people, and especially, the over 2,500 missing Yazidi women and children;
- legislative reforms to the International Criminal Court Act 2001 - to ensure that it incorporates the principle of universal jurisdiction; and
- supporting the Ljubljana-Hague Convention on mutual assistance.
The session was moderated by Brendan O'Hara MP, Chair of the APPG on International Law, Justice and Accountability, of which IBAHRI Director Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC is Vice-Chair.
