The Assad regime continues to legalize detention and torture in its detention centers and seeks to give near-absolute immunity to its security agencies through legislative decrees, including Decree No. 14 of (1969), Decree No. 549 (1969), and Decree No. 69 (2008) and Decree No. 55 (2011).
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that it had recorded more than 947 arbitrary arrests, including against 17 children and 23 women, in the first half of 2020.
In a report issued on Thursday, the Network said that of the total number of arbitrary arrests, 607 turned into enforced disappearance. It noted that the Assad regime carried out 462 arrests, including against eight children and 11 women. The PYD militia carried out 242 arrests, including against nine children and a woman, while 158 other arrests, including against eight women, were carried out by other parties. The HTS group carried out 58 arrests, including against three women.
With regards to forced disappearance, the Network said that the Assad regime was responsible for 314 cases, the PYD militia for 146, the HTS for 47, and other parties for 100 cases.
According to the report, 152 arbitrary arrests took place in June, including against two children and six women, noting that 88 of them had turned into enforced disappearances.
The report indicated that the Assad regime arrested 76 people in June, including against one woman, while the PYD militia detained 47 others. It added that other parties carried out 17 arrests, while HTS carried out 12 others, including against two women.
The rights group stressed the need for the United Nations and the guarantors of the Astana talks to set up a special, neutral committee to monitor cases of enforced disappearance and the progress in disclosing the fate of 98,000 of victims of forced disappearance in Syria, 85% of whom are held by the regime.
The Network called on the official in charge of the issue of detainees at the UN envoy’s office to include the issue in the upcoming Geneva meetings, stressing the need to release children and women and stop taking families and friends as hostages of war. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
