Member of the Syrian Opposition Coalition’s (SOC) political committee, Salwa Aksoy, and Coordinator of the Syrian National Commission for Detainees and Missing Persons, welcomed the US calls for establishing an independent international team in order to know the fate of the missing and forcibly disappeared in the prisons of the Assad regime. Aksoy said that although the calls are a good step, they should include other points that express the demands of the families of the detainees.
Aksoy reaffirmed the SOC’s support for all efforts to ensure the release of detainees and the disclosure of the fate of the missing in the prisons of the Assad regime. She stressed that any new mechanism must ensure the release of detainees, an end to arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance, and holding to account those responsible for arrest, torture and execution of detainees.
Aksoy also called for paying more attention to this issue and addressing it in implementation of the UN resolutions on Syria, most importantly the Geneva Communique of 2012 and Resolutions 2118 and 2254.
In a statement on U.S. support for the Syria Detainee and Missing Persons Mechanism, Spokesperson and Communications Director at U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Nate Evans said on Tuesday: “With over 150,000 unjustly detained and forcibly disappeared persons in Syria, nearly every Syrian family has been impacted by this issue.”
“The United States supports the call for the establishment of a stand-alone entity focused entirely on clarifying the fate and whereabouts of Syria’s missing persons, in parallel with bolstering existing measures,” the statement added.
The statement welcomed the Secretary-General’s report calling for the strengthening of existing measures and establishing a new UN mechanism focused on missing persons in Syria. It added: “The status quo is unacceptable. The United States will continue to work with our partners to advance progress in the General Assembly.” (Source: SOC’s media department)
