May 17, 2024

The issue of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance in Syria is one of the most tragic humanitarian issues, and there can be no fair and sustainable solution without closing this file and reaching a fundamental solution based on the immediate and unconditional release of detainees and the disclosure of the fate of the forcibly disappeared.

The release of detainees and disclosure of missing persons’ fate constitute an essential part of all international resolutions and statements, including UNSCR 2254. International documents related to the Syrian issue, as well as most relevant Security Council resolutions, have called for the immediate release of all detainees and forcibly disappeared persons, especially women and children. This issue constitutes a cornerstone for building trust and is a token of a genuine willingness to move towards a comprehensive solution.

The Syrian Negotiation Commission (SNC) considers the issue of detention and enforced disappearance a priority and does not link this issue to developments in the political process. It rejects considering it as a bargaining chip that is subject to negotiation.

Security Council resolutions and most United Nations documents, such as the Geneva Communique of 2012, the statements of the International Support Group for Syria (Vienna Statements), and reports by the UN Secretary General, have described the situation in Syria as war crimes and crimes against humanity. The 2021 report of the International Commission of Inquiry (COI) summarized the prevailing practices in prisons and detention centers of the Syrian regime between March 2011 and December 2020. The report mainly documented cases of enforced disappearance and detention, along with isolation, torture, inhumane and degrading treatment, sexual violence, gender-based violence and its use as a weapon of war, in addition to death under torture and extrajudicial executions.

In this context, Syrian women detainees face twice as much suffering as men, as they are victims of horrific crimes of sexual violence, which aim primarily to break and destroy their will and secondly to punish them and their families. The experience of detention in a woman’s life affects her during the period of detention, as well as after her release, because of the stigma she is exposed to within the prevailing social culture which result of discrimination and exclusion in society, and even within the family. Because of his distress, released women continue to live an extreme and long-term humiliation for them and their families.  Besides, in some cases female detainees who are released can be murdered by their families because of this “stigma.”

Also, arresting women is sometimes used as a tactic to exert severe psychological and social pressure on opponents. Therefore, the process of arresting women aims to blackmail them and inflict more humiliation and psychological harm. This is one aspect of the suffering faced by Syrian women, who are treated inhumanely

Like women, many men have been exposed to sexual violence inside the regime’s prisons, such as rape. Consequently, these men also suffer from serious psychological and health conditions. Yet, their suffering remains neglected most of the time due to societal pressure.

Based on these descriptions, the Syrian regime’s approach to the issue of detainees and enforced disappearances has become a systematic and widespread violation of international human rights law and a crime against humanity as a systemic and widespread mechanism. It further constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law, particularly Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, and a war crime according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, especially concerning methods of detention, isolation, torture, inhumane and degrading treatment, sexual violence and death under torture. Moreover, it represents a blatant violation of Syria’s obligations under the treaties it has ratified, especially the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The Syrian regime bears the primary responsibility for the issue of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and the serious crimes associated with them in Syria. According to the latest comprehensive report by the “Syrian Network for Human Rights,” the number of individuals still in arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance is 155,604, including 10,176 women, from 2011 until August 2023. These numbers encompass all parties to the Syrian conflict, with the understanding that the regime holds the largest share as the number of detainees in its prisons is 135,638, including 8,478 women.

Due to the utmost priority of the issue of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance for the SNC, a committee for detainees and missing persons was established in 2016. This committee operates on the basis of prioritizing the issue of detainees and forcibly disappeared persons aiming towards achieving accountability for all those who have committed violations against Syrians, and ensuring that there is no impunity.

The Committee for Detainees and Missing Persons works on encompassing all Syrian civil, human rights, and local initiatives, as well as victim associations. It relies on and builds upon them through continuous consultations with various Syrian organizations and networks, ensuring active participation from all Syrian parties and connecting them to the international track.

Furthermore, the Committee engages in activities on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council, the United Nations, and the Security Council. For example, in this context, to support the establishment of the International Institution on Missing persons, the Committee held an Arria-formula session in the Security Council on June 4, 2022. In addition, the Committee’s efforts in building files related to the issue of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance within the technical framework of the constitutional and legislative structure are noteworthy.

No progress has been made in this file since the Geneva Communique and subsequent UN documents related to the issue of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance. The international community and international organizations, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Commission on Missing Persons, have failed to access detention facilities of the Syrian regime, or to contribute to the release of detainees and determining the fate of the forcibly disappeared because the matter hinges upon the presence of international will.

In the absence of such will, the SNC continues its endeavors to highlight the issue of detainees and the forcibly disappeared as a priority regardless of the evolving political process. This issue is not negotiable, and the SNC seeks to exert pressure to make the Syrian issue a matter discussed on the international and UN arenas, with detainees and forcibly disappeared persons at the forefront as a core human rights issue.

(*) Note: Wherever the word “detainees” is mentioned in the text, it includes “male and female detainees.” And wherever the word “disappeared” is mentioned, it also includes “male and female disappeared persons”.