UN creates institution to reveal fate of missing people in Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Thursday, the UN General Assembly adopted a draft resolution to establish a first-of-its-kind institution that will work to reveal the fate of an estimated 100,000 people missing or forcibly disappeared in Syria.
The resolution was adopted by a vote of 83 in favor to 11 against, with 62 abstentions.
Since 2011, more than 100,000 individuals have gone missing or been forcibly disappeared by Syrian authorities and other parties to the conflict, including armed groups such as ISIS.
In 2021, Syrian families and survivors called for the creation of a new independent, humanitarian institution that will focus on victims’ inalienable right to know the truth about their loved ones.
The UN has decided to dispense with the approval of Damascus to create an entity dedicated to Syria.
“After 12 years of conflict and violence in the Syrian Arab Republic, little progress has been achieved in alleviating the suffering of families by providing answers as to the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons,” said the resolution.
Member States therefore decided to establish, “under the aegis of the United Nations, the Independent Institution on Missing Persons of the Syrian Arab Republic, to clarify the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons” in Syria.
However, Syria, along with Russia and China, objected the resolution, “This draft clearly reflects flagrant interference in our internal affairs and provides new evidence of the hostile approach being pursued by certain Western States against Syria,” said Bassam Sabbagh, Syria’s permanent representative to the UN.