Navigating Through Victimhood in Non-International Armed Conflict

An interactive essay on Syria, legal categories, and the unstable boundary between victimhood, participation, and perpetration.

Move through three lives shaped by protest, detention, coercion, armed struggle, and revenge. Each case asks two questions: Civilian or combatant? Victim or not victim?

Begin the study

Three connected scenarios. Two questions per moment.

Case map

Three lives, two questions each.

Each scenario asks you to make two determinations: Is this person a civilian or a combatant? Are they a victim or not? If they are a victim, you will indicate the degree of victimhood.

Lens