In support of UN initiative, SDC forms follow-up committee for detained and kidnapped

In support of UN initiative, SDC forms follow-up committee for detained and kidnapped

Qamishli – North-PressAgency

Abdulhalim Suleiman

 

In a press conference held on Saturday in the city of Qamishli, northeastern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) announced the formation of a follow-up committee on the issue of detainees and kidnapped of all the conflicting parties in Syria.

 

The Council held all parties of the conflict in Syria responsible for the physical and psychological integrity of the detainees, calling on the parties to "abide by international human rights law and all relevant international laws and treaties."

 

In its statement read by the co-chair of its executive body Ilham Ahmed, the SDC considered the cause of detainees, kidnapped, missing and forcibly disappeared persons as a humanitarian case above negotiation, and that it should not be used as a tool of blackmail by any party.

 

The follow-up committee on the issue of detainees and kidnapped is composed of a working group consisting of the families of detainees and kidnapped persons, legal professionals, and civil society activists, whose task is to follow up, cooperate, coordinate, and communicate with all local, regional, and international bodies, organizations and institutions. They also work to collect and define information on the issue of detention, and to develop necessary plans "to meet the aspirations and hopes of the Syrians in terms of truth, justice, and accountability," according to the statement.

 

In response to a North-Press question regarding the competence of the committee's work and its relationship to revealing the fate of the disappeared members of the Kurdish National Council in the regions of North and East Syria, as well as those kidnapped and detained by Turkish forces and their affiliated armed groups, Ilham Ahmed said: "The initiative to form the committee is comprehensive and supportive of the initiative of the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the United Nations Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen.”