As many as 54 countries issued a joint statement condemning the deaths, torture, and ill-treatment of detainees in Assad’s prisons and calling for a sustainable political solution in Syria in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2254.
This statement was made during the interactive dialogue with the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria on behalf of 54 countries. The statement commended “the Commission of Inquiry’s continued work in shining a light on large-scale, systematic, and arbitrary or unjust detentions and related violations and abuses. This, together with the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism, as well as the Independent Institution on Missing Persons, is crucial for ensuring truth, justice, and accountability.”
The statement deplored “the fact that tens of thousands of Syrians are estimated to have been subjected to arbitrary and incommunicado detention. Torture and other ill-treatment, including sexual and gender-based violence, have been reported on an alarming scale and continue to this day.”
The statement demanded an end to “such practices; release unjustly detained Syrians; clarify the fate of the missing; ensure that appropriate access is granted for independent and humanitarian monitoring organizations; and hold those responsible to account.”
The signatory countries reiterated the call for “a sustainable and comprehensive political solution for Syria in line with Security Council Resolution 2254.”
Meanwhile, the Syrian Network for Human Rights issued a report on detention in Syria, documenting 1,236 cases of arrest, including 56 children and 30 women, in the first half of this year.
The Network highlighted 126 cases of detention following the forced return of refugees in 2024.
The 23-page report revealed that 73 percent of arrests in Syria result in enforced disappearances, with the Assad regime responsible for about 88 percent of the recorded arbitrary arrests.
The Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) emphasized that the Assad regime continues to carry out arrests and torture across various Syrian regions. The SOC pointed out that these practices are deeply ingrained in the Assad regime’s methods of suppressing the Syrian people’s revolution and silencing dissent.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
