2023-06-27 01:07:00
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In view of the June 29 vote at the United Nations General Assembly on the creation of an independent international institution to clarify the fate and whereabouts of tens of thousands of people missing and subjected to enforced disappearance in Syria since 2011, Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said:
“UN Member States, who can provide a way to realize families’ right to the truth by establishing a victim-focused institution dedicated to providing them with the long-awaited answers about what happened to their loved ones dear ones, you must heed the calls of families and survivors in Syria who have spared no effort to create such a body, and vote in favor of the resolution.
“For more than ten years, the families of the missing and unaccounted for have faced immense difficulties in obtaining any information about the fate of their loved ones, a matter that all sides of the conflict have been unwilling to address. address, leaving them in a state of perpetual agony and uncertainty. By creating an institution focused on precisely this issue, the UN can help them find some of the answers they deserve.
“At least 100,000 people are believed to be unaccounted for. or have been subjected to disappearance in Syria since 2011, primarily at the hands of the Syrian government security apparatus. The true figure is likely to be higher, as the parties to the conflict have never revealed who they have in custody. This institution would offer a single way to register cases and concentrate existing information, and would coordinate with other mechanisms that already exist to address this issue.”
The vote comes after the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, proposed the creation of an independent institution in a historical report published in August 2022 on how to strengthen measures to address the thousands of arrests and disappearances carried out since 2011 and provide support to families.
On June 23, Amnesty International and 101 civil society organizations sent a letter to the member states of the UN urging them to vote in favor of the creation of this institution.
Amnesty International had previously documented the widespread and systematic use of enforced disappearance by the Syrian government against the civilian population in order to quell dissent, a campaign of crimes against humanity whose perpetrators must be brought to justice.
Armed opposition groups have also kidnapped civilians, including human rights defenders, many of whom remain unaccounted for.
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