On Thursday, June 29, the United Nations General Assembly voted to form an independent international institution dedicated to searching for missing people in Syria. The resolution passed on a vote of 83 – 11. Many Western nations, including the United States, voted for the move, and Syria and its key allies, including Iran, Russia, and China opposed the resolution.
Arab nations that had been re-establishing ties with Syria abstained, except for Qatar and Kuwait, which endorsed the move. The UN resolution comes as more than 130,000 people have gone missing since the start of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2011, which quickly escalated into a civil war.
The newly created organization will collect information from families, Syrian civil society organizations, whistleblowers, UN agencies, and authorities in both government and rebel-held areas in Syria. UN officials have three weeks to set up the institution, according to the resolution.
Families of missing people and human rights activists have long been calling for efforts to search for missing persons. In recent years, some information has surfaced, including the “Caesar Photos,” which show bodies of detainees in military hospitals and prisons with signs of torture. Because of the leak of the Caesar photos, some families have been able to find missing loved ones, and European courts were able to try former Syrian military officers for their role in forced disappearances.
In the Kurdish-held city of Qamishli in northeast Syria, Hamed Hemo has hoped that the investigation could give him information on his missing son. Hemo’s son, Ferhad, is a journalist who was kidnapped by Islamic State militants in 2014. Ferhad’s colleague, Masoud Aqil, was also kidnapped and released in a prisoner swap. However, Ferhad is still in captivity.
“To this day our lives have completely changed,” Hemo said. “His mother once weighed 154 pounds, and she’s dropped to 88 pounds.”
Hemo hopes that information about his son’s fate can be obtained from captured ISIL militants.
In countries neighboring Syria also affected by war, there is less hope. In Lebanon, 17,000 people were kidnapped by sectarian militias during the 1975 – 1990 country’s civil war. Many of those people never came back home. In Yemen, despite prisoner swaps between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthi rebels, hundreds still remain missing. In Iraq, more than 43,000 people have gone missing since the US-led invasion began in 2003, which quickly escalated into civil war and led to the rise of the Islamic State. The UN institution is the first to search for missing people in this area.
Sources:
https://eb18600f7bb2916037f5ee8e636ce199.cdn.bubble.io/f1688327119608x978999030205300200/Families%20of%20thousands%20missing%20in%20Syria%20draw%20hope%20from%20U.N.%20push%20-%20Los%20Angeles%20Times.pdf
Arab nations that had been re-establishing ties with Syria abstained, except for Qatar and Kuwait, which endorsed the move. The UN resolution comes as more than 130,000 people have gone missing since the start of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2011, which quickly escalated into a civil war.
The newly created organization will collect information from families, Syrian civil society organizations, whistleblowers, UN agencies, and authorities in both government and rebel-held areas in Syria. UN officials have three weeks to set up the institution, according to the resolution.
Families of missing people and human rights activists have long been calling for efforts to search for missing persons. In recent years, some information has surfaced, including the “Caesar Photos,” which show bodies of detainees in military hospitals and prisons with signs of torture. Because of the leak of the Caesar photos, some families have been able to find missing loved ones, and European courts were able to try former Syrian military officers for their role in forced disappearances.
In the Kurdish-held city of Qamishli in northeast Syria, Hamed Hemo has hoped that the investigation could give him information on his missing son. Hemo’s son, Ferhad, is a journalist who was kidnapped by Islamic State militants in 2014. Ferhad’s colleague, Masoud Aqil, was also kidnapped and released in a prisoner swap. However, Ferhad is still in captivity.
“To this day our lives have completely changed,” Hemo said. “His mother once weighed 154 pounds, and she’s dropped to 88 pounds.”
Hemo hopes that information about his son’s fate can be obtained from captured ISIL militants.
In countries neighboring Syria also affected by war, there is less hope. In Lebanon, 17,000 people were kidnapped by sectarian militias during the 1975 – 1990 country’s civil war. Many of those people never came back home. In Yemen, despite prisoner swaps between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthi rebels, hundreds still remain missing. In Iraq, more than 43,000 people have gone missing since the US-led invasion began in 2003, which quickly escalated into civil war and led to the rise of the Islamic State. The UN institution is the first to search for missing people in this area.
Sources:
https://eb18600f7bb2916037f5ee8e636ce199.cdn.bubble.io/f1688327119608x978999030205300200/Families%20of%20thousands%20missing%20in%20Syria%20draw%20hope%20from%20U.N.%20push%20-%20Los%20Angeles%20Times.pdf