Civil Society Organizations Urge UN Member States to Vote in Favor of Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria

At the end of June, the UN General Assembly will be called to vote on a resolution to establish an independent institution to clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing people in the Syrian Arab Republic, a milestone in the international community’s response to the Syrian conflict.

Since 2011, more than 100,000 individuals have gone missing or been forcibly disappeared by Syrian authorities and other parties to the conflict, including armed groups such as ISIL. In 2021, Syrian families and survivors called for the creation of a new independent, humanitarian institution that will focus on victims’ inalienable right to know the truth about their loved ones.

The call to establish such a new institution is supported by the UN Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The independent institution will be the first-ever response to the Syrian conflict to be entirely imagined and developed by Syrian victims and survivors of enforced disappearance and families of missing persons. The efforts made by Syrian families need the broadest and strongest support possible.

We, therefore, call on UN member states to support the families’ right to truth by voting in favor of the resolution. Voting for the resolution will constitute a major step towards bringing long-awaited answers to thousands of families who have been suffering loss and uncertainty.

Progress on this issue is fundamental to families, communities and society as a whole. The international community must extend a hand of practical support and assistance to families and victims in need. The people of Syria deserve no less.

Signatories:

1. Association of Detainees and Missing Persons in Sednaya Prison
2. Caesar Families Association
3. Coalition of Families of Persons Kidnapped by ISIS (Massar)
4. Families for Freedom
5. Ta’afi Initiative
6. General Union of Internees and Detainees
7. Release Me
8. Hevdesti-Synergy Association for Victims
9. Adra Detainees Association
10. Families of Truth and Justice
11. Afrin Platform
12. Afro-Middle East Centre
13. Ali Mourad (Academic & Legal Researcher)
14. Amnesty International
15. Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial Brussels
16. Austausch – For a European Civil Society, Berlin
17. Avaaz
18. Association de Parents et Amis de Disparus au Maroc
19. Building Blocks for Peace Foundation
20. Budapest Centre for Dialogue and Mass Atrocities Prevention
21. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
22. Cameroon O’Bosso
23. CCFD-Terre Solidaire
24. Center for Civilians in Conflict
25. Center for Victims of Torture
26. Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS)
27. Child Rights International Network (CRIN)
28. Civic Assistance Committee
29. Collectif des Familles de Disparu.e.s en Algérie (CFDA)
30. Committee of the Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon (CFKDL)
31. Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights
32. Dawlaty
33. Democracia Global
34. Denis Hurley Peace Institute
35. Donde Estan?-Où sont-ils? France
36. Dozana
37. Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms
38. Euro-mediterranean federation against enforced disappearances
39. FIDH – International Federation for Human Rights
40. Finjan
41. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
42. Global Justice Center
43. Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
44. HAKI Africa
45. Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
46. Human Rights Center “Viasna”
47. Human Rights Solidarity Organisation
48. Human Rights Watch
49. Hurras Network
50. Impunity Watch
51. Independent human rights and media project OVD-Info
52. International Alert
53. Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention
54. International Center for Transitional Justice
55. International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR)
56. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
57. Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights
58. Justice and rehabilitation
59. Justice for life
60. Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group
61. Khulumani Support Group
62. Khwendo jirga
63. Legal Action Worldwide
64. Lelun Association for Victims
65. Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan
66. Middle East and North Africa Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (MENAPPAC)
67. Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Right Studies
68. Movement for Democracy, Development and Transparency Cameroon
69. Network of independent Commission for Human rights in North Africa.
70. Nobel Women’s Initiative
71. PAX for Peace
72. Peace Direct
73. Permanent Peace Movement
74. Ras-ALAIN platform
75. Russi contro la guerra
76. Salam For Yemen
77. Solidarity 2020 and Beyond
78. Stand with Syria Japan (SSJ)
79. Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS)
80. Syrian Lawyers Aggregation
81. Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ)
82. Syrian Memory Institution (SMI)
83. Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR)
84. Syrian Welsh Society
85. TERRE ET LIBERTE POUR ARAUCO
86. The association Syrian Sweden
87. The Syrian Swedish Democratic Network (SSDF)
88. The Day After
89. The Syria Campaign
90. The Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)
91. The Syrian Legal Development Programme (SLDP)
92. Truth Hounds
93. VDSH
94. VSI Action4life
95. WANEP NIGER
96. Wheat Olive Platform
97. WILDAF
98. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
99. Women Now for Development
100. Women’s Refugee Commission
101. World Uyghur Congress
102. World Federalist Movement – Canada
103. YouthHubAfrica