{"id":96809,"date":"2026-09-02T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=96809"},"modified":"2026-09-02T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T12:00:00","slug":"dont-give-up-syrian-womens-ongoing-search-for-the-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=96809","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Don\u2019t give up\u2019: Syrian women\u2019s ongoing search for the missing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>She found a picture of her brother, Uqba, among the \u201cCaesar photos\u201d, a cache of images smuggled out of Syria in 2013 documenting the deaths of thousands in government custody. That discovery, she said, is what pushed her to act.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI took it upon myself to seek the truth for all the victims who do not know the fate of their loved ones,\u201d said Ms. Al-Mashaan, who serves with Syria\u2019s National Commission for Transitional Justice.<\/p>\n<p>That drive has made her one of the country\u2019s leading voices in the search for truth on Syria\u2019s missing persons file.<\/p>\n<p>She was among those at UN Headquarters on Monday when the General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 19 December the International Day of Recognition for Women Searchers of Missing Persons.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Read the full General Assembly resolution\u00a0<\/strong><strong>here<\/strong><strong>.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<h2><strong>\u2018Tribute to courage\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Estimates suggest that the number of the missing ranges between 130,000 and 300,000, according to the Independent Foundation for Missing Persons in Syria.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWomen searching for their missing loved ones bear the burden of uncertainty for years, often decades, as they refuse to let those who have disappeared be forgotten,\u201d Carla Quintana, president of the foundation, told <em>UN News<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>She said the General Assembly resolution reflects \u201cthis international recognition is a tribute to the courage, perseverance and exceptional contribution of these women in the search for truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Resilience and sacrifice<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Ms. Al-Mashaan told <em>UN News<\/em> that the new General Assembly resolution means \u201call the resilience and sacrifices made have been honored by recognising the right of women to search for their loved ones.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She described her long journey searching for the truth and rallying support for a resolution that honours the women who search for the missing around the world.<\/p>\n<p>She also founded the Caesar Families Association with families of victims of enforced disappearance in Syria: she has a message to all female fighters and those searching for their loved ones.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t give up.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"context-un_news_full_width_credit_caption type-entermedia_image media figure media--type-entermedia-image media--view-mode-un-news-full-width-credit-caption\"><figcaption class=\"media__caption figure-caption\">\n                  <span class=\"author\">UN News<\/span><br \/>\n                          <span class=\"caption\">Amina Khoulani, member of Syria\u2019s National Commission for Missing Persons.<\/span><br \/>\n              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>\u2018Truly active role\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Amina Khoulani, a member of the Syrian National Commission for Missing Persons, never gave up following her arrest and detention \u2013 along with family members \u2013 by the now deposed Bashar Al-Assad regime in 2003.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the beginning of the Syrian revolution, I became involved in the human rights struggle, and as a result of this involvement, my husband, my four brothers and I were arrested and imprisoned in the regime\u2019s prisons,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>While she, her husband and one of her brothers were released from detention, the other three family members were executed in Sednaya prison, she recalled, explaining her journey fleeing Syria and settling in Lebanon and then the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Khoulani, who helped create the first association of Syrian women to search for missing persons in Syria, said the new Assembly decision reflects \u201can affirmation that the role of women was not a secondary role, but rather a truly active role\u201d.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"context-un_news_full_width_credit_caption type-entermedia_image media figure media--type-entermedia-image media--view-mode-un-news-full-width-credit-caption\"><figcaption class=\"media__caption figure-caption\">\n                  <span class=\"author\">UN News<\/span><br \/>\n                          <span class=\"caption\">Debra Tice, the mother of US journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria.<\/span><br \/>\n              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>Power of hope<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>For Debra Tice, the mother of missing US journalist Austin Tice, the General Assembly\u2019s decision was both important and courageous.<\/p>\n<p>Describing the particular pain mothers experience when they lose their loved ones, she told all those searching to \u201chold onto your desire to find them and to know exactly where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe best thing one could hope for is to embrace them [the missing] again, if that is possible, if they are found, if they can get out of somewhere and return to the arms of their loved ones,\u201d she told <em>UN News<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Highlighting the power of hope, Ambassador Ibrahim Al-Ulabi, the Permanent Representative of Syria to the UN, said many Syrian women involved in searching for the missing and disappeared have borne enormous burdens and taken on a tremendous task.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do not just want to remember the suffering, we also want to recall the resilience and efforts made,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we hope, as we move forward in this new chapter of Syria\u2019s history, to also recall hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>She found a picture of her brother, Uqba, among the \u201cCaesar photos\u201d, a cache of images&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3380,1422,343,2029,1313,4102,554],"class_list":["post-96809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east","tag-dont","tag-give","tag-missing","tag-ongoing","tag-search","tag-syrian","tag-womens"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.0 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Don\u2019t give up\u2019: Syrian women\u2019s ongoing search for the missing - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Don\u2019t give up\u2019: Syrian women\u2019s ongoing search for the missing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE&#039;s Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-02T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762534887_image560x340cropped.avif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Don\u2019t give up\u2019: Syrian women\u2019s ongoing search for the missing - Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Don\u2019t give up\u2019: Syrian women\u2019s ongoing search for the missing","og_description":"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site","og_url":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264","og_site_name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","article_published_time":"2026-09-02T12:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":560,"height":340,"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762534887_image560x340cropped.avif","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"gulftimes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_site":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"gulftimes","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=96809"},"author":{"name":"gulftimes","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977"},"headline":"\u2018Don\u2019t give up\u2019: Syrian women\u2019s ongoing search for the missing","datePublished":"2026-09-02T12:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=96809"},"wordCount":697,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762534887_image560x340cropped.avif","keywords":["dont","give","missing","ongoing","Search","Syrian","womens"],"articleSection":["Middle East"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=96809","url":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264","name":"\u2018Don\u2019t give up\u2019: Syrian women\u2019s ongoing search for the missing - Gulf Times | News by the minute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762534887_image560x340cropped.avif","datePublished":"2026-09-02T12:00:00+00:00","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762534887_image560x340cropped.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762534887_image560x340cropped.avif","width":560,"height":340},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/09\/1168264#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Don\u2019t give up\u2019: Syrian women\u2019s ongoing search for the missing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Largest News Aggregator in the Gulf","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Gulf News Aggregator","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization","name":"Gulf Times","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Gulf Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","https:\/\/x.com\/Gulftimesuae"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977","name":"gulftimes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"gulftimes"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/gulftimes.ae"],"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/79645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}