Establishment of Independent UN Body to Investigate Fate of Missing Persons in Syria

On Thursday, the United Nations General Assembly established an independent body with the aim of “clarifying” the fate of thousands of people still missing in Syria since the war broke out in 2011, despite the objections of Damascus.

According to NGOs, around 100,000 people have disappeared since the start of a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests. More than half a million people were killed.

The resolution, passed with 83 votes in favor, stated that “after 12 years of conflict and violence in the Syrian Arab Republic, little progress has been made in alleviating the suffering of families by providing answers regarding the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons.” 11 against and 62 abstentions.

The Independent Foundation for Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic will “clarify the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons” in the country and “provide adequate support to the victims, survivors and families of the missing.”

But Syria, Russia, China and Iran objected to the new body, saying it had not been consulted on the decision.

“This project clearly reflects blatant interference in our internal affairs and provides new evidence of the hostile approach pursued by certain Western countries against Syria,” Ambassador Bassam al-Sabbagh said, referring in particular to the United States.

He rejected the “alien, ambiguous mechanism with no precise definition of the concept of missing persons, a mechanism that is neither time-limited nor geographically restricted” and warned that it could be used to target UN member states, especially developing countries.

The resolution calls on the UN Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and other relevant parties to define the mandate of the new organization in the next 80 days.

“A much needed initiative! Families have the right to know the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones to help heal the community as a whole,” the UN human rights office said on Twitter.

Human Rights Watch said the new organization needed to have the right tools at its disposal to carry out its work.

“United Nations member states must ensure that this new institution has the staff and resources to determine what happened to the thousands of people who have disappeared during the 12 years of conflict in Syria,” said Louis Charbonneau, the organization’s director at the United Nations, in a statement.

“The people of Syria deserve nothing less.”

Thursday’s vote came after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for such a body in an August report, saying families should not have to go through the trauma of being investigated for the whereabouts of their missing relatives.

As the Family Association representative said, “Just imagine looking at leaked videos of massacres (on social media) to see if your family member is among the repeatedly decapitated and mutilated corpses, and you do a desperate search.”

“Families led by women in particular should not have to put themselves at risk to search for their missing relatives, or impoverish themselves in an already dire economic environment and where survival is precarious, in order to claim basic rights.”