Home Press releases & statements Civil Society Organizations Urge UN Member States to Vote in Favor of Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria

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

We call on UN member states to support the families' right to truth by voting in favor of the resolution

by bassamalahmed
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Drawing by Syrian artist and torture survivor Najah al Bukai. It shows prisoners who have to clear away the bodies of other prisoners.

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

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