Syria is undergoing a political transition following the overthrow of the Assad regime in December 2024 and 13 years of brutal civil war.
Families in distress
In response to a journalist’s question, Al-Kateen said that OHCHR had managed to document at least 97 people who had been kidnapped since the beginning of the year.
This is in addition to the more than 100,000 people who disappeared during the Assads’ father-and-son rule, which lasted some five decades.
While some families have been reunited with loved ones, “Many still live with the anguish of not knowing where they are, or what happened to them.“, said.
He stressed that “it is urgent to clarify the fate and whereabouts of all the missing, both before and after the fall of the previous government.”
In this sense, he underlined OHCHR’s support for the work of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic (IIMP).
Karla Quintana, who heads the UN body, recently said that “everyone in Syria knows someone who has disappeared.”
Missing aid worker
Mr. Al-Keetan highlighted the case of Hamza Al-Amarin, a volunteer with the Syrian Civil Defense, commonly known as the White Helmets.
He disappeared on July 16 of this year while supporting a humanitarian evacuation mission during violence in Suweida, located in the south, and his whereabouts remain unknown.
“We emphasize that all armed actors – both those exercising state power and those otherwise exercising it – must respect and protect humanitarian workers at all times and everywhere, as required by international human rights law and applicable humanitarian law,” the spokesperson said.
“Accountability and justice for all human rights violations and abuses, past and present, are essential for Syria to build a lasting, peaceful and secure future for all its people.”