Platform launched in NE Syria to care about missing people
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A non-governmental organization (NGO) announced on Thursday the launch of a platform in Northeast Syria to follow up on the latest developments regarding the issue of the missing people and their families.
Synergy Association for Victims, an NGO operating in Northeast Syria, launched the Missing Persons’ Families Platform in North and East Syria (MPFP-NES) with the aim of organizing efforts in searching for the missing, revealing their fate, and accomplishing justice.
“MPFP-NES represents no specific entity in itself,” Synergy said, “It is considered a space for coordination, information exchange, and sharing experiences.”
It added that it will support and facilitate consultations among the platform’s members and its activities to develop the platform’s plans and policies in uncovering the fate of the missing and the forcibly disappeared.
The mission of the MPFP-NES is “to organize families of the missing and forcibly disappeared in north and east Syria, empower them to represent themselves, and struggle to enhance the active and meaningful participation of victims, survivors and their families in search efforts, truth-revealing, and achieving justice.”
Estimates cited by the U.N. in 2021 indicate that more than 130,000 persons are missing as a result of the current conflict in Syria. But there were also missing persons before 2011, and it is believed that the actual numbers are higher than that reported.
In August 2023, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) announced the formation of the “Committee for Missing Persons in North and East Syria” in response to a call from the United Nations General Assembly, which adopted a resolution on the matter in June 2023.
In June 2023, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution to establish the Independent Institution for Missing Persons tasked with revealing the fate of the people missing or forcibly disappeared in Syria.