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\u201cEleven months after the fall of the former government in Syria,\u00a0we continue to receive worrying reports about dozens of abductions and enforced disappearances<\/strong>,\u201d Spokesperson\u00a0Thameen Al-Keetan\u00a0said at a press briefing in\u00a0Geneva.<\/p>\n Syria is undergoing a political transition following the overthrow of the Assad regime in December 2024 and 13 years of\u00a0brutal\u00a0civil war.<\/p>\n In response to a journalist\u2019s question,\u00a0Mr. Al-Kateen\u00a0said\u00a0OHCHR has documented at least 97 people\u00a0who have been abducted or disappeared since the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n This\u00a0is in addition to the\u00a0more than\u00a0100,000 people\u00a0who went missing\u00a0during the\u00a0father and\u00a0son\u00a0rule of the\u00a0Assads, which lasted some five decades.<\/p>\n While\u00a0some families have been reunited with their loved ones,\u00a0\u201cmany still live with the distress of not knowing where they are, or what happened to them<\/strong>,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n He stressed that\u00a0\u201cthe fate and whereabouts of all those who have gone missing, both before and after the fall of the former government, must urgently be clarified.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In this regard, he\u00a0underscored OHCHR\u2019s\u00a0support\u00a0for\u00a0the work of\u00a0the\u00a0Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic (IIMP).<\/p>\n Karla\u00a0Quintana, who\u00a0leads the UN body, recently said that\u00a0\u201ceveryone\u00a0in Syria knows someone who has gone missing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Mr. Al-Keetan\u00a0highlighted the case of Hamza Al-Amarin, a volunteer with the Syria Civil Defense, commonly known as the White Helmets.<\/p>\n He\u00a0went missing on 16 July\u00a0of this year\u00a0while supporting a humanitarian evacuation mission during violence in\u00a0Suweida,\u00a0located\u00a0in\u00a0the south, and\u00a0remains\u00a0unaccounted for.<\/p>\n \u201cWe stress that all armed actors \u2013 both exercising State power and otherwise \u2013 must respect and protect humanitarian workers at all times, everywhere, as required by international human rights law and applicable humanitarian law,\u201d the Spokesperson said.<\/p>\n \u201cAccountability and justice for all human rights violations and abuses, past and present, are essential for Syria to build a durable, peaceful and secure future for all its people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\nFamilies in distress<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Missing aid worker<\/strong><\/h2>\n