The Syrian Network for Human Rights documents more than 112,000 forcibly disappeared persons in Syria since March 2011
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said in its12th annual report on enforced disappearance in Syria that no less than 112,713 people, including 3,105 children and 6,698, are still forcibly disappeared since March 2011.
This report marks the International Day of the Disappeared on August 30. The report includes a lot of incidents on forcibly disappearance and testimonies of the victims’ families.
The report included a wide range of incidents of enforced disappearance and testimonies from victims’ families.
The report pointed out that the enforced disappearance’s operations carried out by the parties to the conflict and the dominating forces in Syria constitute one of the most complex and brutality violations, which the Syrian people suffer from for 12 years. But Assad regime through its security system, adopted from this phenomenon (enforced disappearance) an effective tool to crack down any kind of aspirations towards change, freedom and democracy. This tool surpassed all other parties to the conflict by using it against the various segments of Syrian society whether men, women or children, and without any exception.
The report pointed out to the toll of enforced disappeared since the eruption of the popular movement for democracy in Syria March 2011 until August 2023. The mainly focuses on the violations documented by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) since August 2022 until August 2023.
The report talked about Assad regime’s ongoing manipulation of laws and recording some of the disappeared persons as dead in the civil registry records. the report also demonstrated the most notable figures in the Assad regime’s security services, security/military committees, and military forces affiliated to the Assad regime , which are involved in enforced disappearance crimes against tens of thousands of Syrians.
The report relied mainly on the database of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, and it was based on interviews that took place with families of forcibly disappeared victims from various Syrian governorates, and reviewed 18 accounts obtained directly and not taken from open sources.
The report emphasized that establishing the International Mechanism for Missing Persons in Syria will undoubtedly contribute to mobilizing Syrian and international human rights efforts to support the file of the missing. This mechanism may be able to build a central database, and it will constitute a platform with which tens of thousands of families of the missing can communicate.
The report stated that no less than 155,604 people, including 5,213 children and 10,176 women, are still under arrest or forcibly disappeared by the parties to the conflict and the controlling forces in Syria from March 2011 to August 2023. The Assad regime holds135,638 people in prisons, including 3,693 children and 8,478 women, while no less than 8,684, including 319 children and 255 women, are still disappeared by ISIS.
The (SNHR) has previously welcomed the United Nations General Assembly’s resolution to create a new independent institution on the missing in Syria. The General Assembly’ member states voted on Thursday, June 29, 2023, on draft resolution A/77/L.79, which aims to work on the file of missing persons in Syria. The resolution passed with a majority of 83 countries, 11 opposed, and 62 abstained.
