Syrian Coalition Calls for Reopening UN Offices in Syria to Know the Fate of the Forcibly Disappeared

Nora Al Ameer, vice president of the Syrian Coalition, and Ammar Tabbab, director of the Syrian Commission for Transitional Justice and director of the file of enforced disappearance met with ambassadors of several Arab and foreign countries today. Al Ameer and Tabbab raised the subject of detention and enforced disappearances which has become the Syrian Coalition’s top priority and called on the United Nations to “re-open UN offices in Syria to follow up on the situation of tens of thousands of detainees in Assad’s jails and release them using the legal means.” Al Ameer pointed out that “while governments around the world are racing to open more schools, universities, institutes and scientific research, the Assad’s government sole concern is to build more detention centers and dig in more mass graves,” during a press conference. “The international community can stop the wheel of murder, detention, and enforced disappearance through opening UN and human rights offices in Syria to know the fate of detainees in Assad’s jails.” She cited the visit of the former UN special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan two years ago, which saved many detainees, consequently many families, many children, many of the homelessness.” She concluded her remarks stressing Victims of forced disappearance in Syria face a very bleak fate, and while the detainees represent the unknown soldiers of the Syrian Revolution, the forcibly disappeared are considered the unknown soldiers of the detainees themselves.” Al Ameer concluded her remarks stressing that “the world’s abandonment of Syrian citizens who have being subjected to all kinds of injustices and abuses, and are being dealt with as mere numbers and news stories is shameful and unacceptable and is not commensurate with a society ruled by human rights laws.” The ‏‎Syrian Commission for Transitional Justice‎‏ has released a report in cooperation with the Syrian Coalition to highlight the crimes of enforced disappearance towards the Syrian people. Ammar Tabbab, director of the Syrian Commission for Transitional Justice and director of the file of enforced disappearances, said that “the commission recorded more than 60,000 cases of forced disappearances in Syria, among them 6,722 people who were liquidated including, 1348 children and 1511 women. He also said that “while Syria is not the first country where forced disappearance is recorded, it is the only country where an entire community has been forcibly disappeared,” citing the regime forces’ closing off of whole areas near Wadi al-Daif army base in Idlib province. Survivors who managed to flee those areas were not given the chance to know the fate of their beloved ones. Examples of cases of enforced disappearances have been corroborated by the 55,000 photos leaked by Caesar, which leaves no room for doubt about the regime’s responsibility. However, the world chose to remain silent for political reasons with a complete disregard for human lives. In contrast, the international community lost no time to declare war on ISIS, which shows its double standards as it condoned the original criminal and chose to counter ISIS whose crimes are only an extension and reflection of those of the Assad regime. Ironically, the international community and the Assad regime are trying to find an excuse through an enforced disappearance to extend the scope of the implementation of the UN resolution to Syria, namely the case of the American journalist James Foley, who was executed by ISIS after he went missing in the end of 2012, even before ISIS began to exist. The world’s silence over the photos of 11,000 detainees, leaked by Caesar, proves that in our world the decision to apply justice is determined by the victim’s nationality, as the 11,000 Syrian detainees were not a match to one U.S. national.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)