| Evidence of Crimes in Syria Must Be Protected The Hague, 7 December 2024: Events now taking place in Syria are changing, by the hour, the nature of a conflict that is more than a decade old. This has a direct impact on efforts to account for the estimated 150,000 people who are missing as a result of fighting and human rights violations in Syria and as a result of forced displacement and migration. Media reports this week describe the opening of prisons and other places of detention by advancing opposition forces. Detainees who have been held incommunicado for years – in some cases for decades – have been liberated. The release of detainees has brought unspeakable relief to victims of illegal detention and their families, in Syria and in the worldwide Syrian diaspora, as well as for other nationals, such as the families of Lebanese detainees. It must be accompanied by an effort to protect evidence so that this relief can be translated into long-term justice. Present events have created an opportunity to account for the missing and to advance measures to bring justice to victims and their families – it is therefore crucial that documentary and other evidence are safeguarded as prisons and places of mass detention are opened and also in the event that clandestine and burial places are found. Places where executions and other human rights violations have occurred are crime scenes. They must be sealed and in due course documented, to protect the truth and bring those responsible for crimes to justice. The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), working with Syrian families of the missing and Syrian Civil society organizations, has collected data from more than 76,200 relatives from Syria who have reported more than 28,200 missing persons. ICMP has also received reports concerning the location of 66 sites of mass graves in addition to two detention sites, through ICMP’s Online Inquiry Center (OIC) Site Locator and encourages those with information to use these resources to help find the missing. ICMP looks forward to enhancing its cooperation with the UN Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria as it becomes fully operational to support efforts to find the huge number of missing persons. ICMP’s Syria/MENA Program is supported by Germany, the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom. |
Preserving Evidence of Crimes in Syria: A Call to Action
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