As the country wrestles with lingering questions about the fate of the many thousands of people who vanished during the country’s civil war, Syria is hosting its first International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances since Bashar al-Assad’s assassination.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) claimed this year has “particular significance” because it has seen a significant rise in the number of cases since al-Assad’s assassination in a report released on Saturday to coincide with the annual commemoration.
After al-Assad’s removal, desperate families flocked to former detention centers, prisons, morgues, and mass grave sites to seek out their missing relatives. In addition, investigators had unprecedented access to government records, witness accounts, and human remains.
The fate of tens of thousands of detainees remained unknown, making them forcibly disappeared, according to SNHR on Saturday, while a small number of detainees were still alive. This revealed a significant tragedy that affected all aspects of Syrian society.
According to the rights group’s report, at least 177,057 people were forcibly disappeared in Syria between March 2011 and August 2025, including 4, 536 children and 8, 984 women.
More than 90% of those cases, according to the study’s estimate, were caused by the former government.
According to SNHR, “Al-Assad’s regime has systematically implemented a policy of enforced disappearance to terrorize and collectively punish society, aimed at dissidents and civilians from various regions and affiliations.”
A new Syrian government was established just months after the establishment of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances under the leadership of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Al-Sharaa has pledged to stop the practice of enforced disappearances by establishing a National Commission for Transitional Justice and a National Commission for Missing Persons (NCMP) with a presidential decree in May.
The bodies are charged with, among other things, examining issues involving accountability, reparations, and national harmony. Al-Sharaa has also pledged to punish those responsible for mass murders and other crimes.
The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Saturday that the country’s government would continue to prioritize enforced disappearances. According to the ministry, “it can only be resolved by bringing justice to the victims, disclosing the truth, and restoring dignity to their families.”
Mohammad Reda Jalkhi, the NCMP’s head, added that while “Syria faces a daunting task,” “[the] families of the missing have the right to thorough and impartial investigations.”
resources and independence
Advocates for human rights applauded the Syrian government’s initial efforts to stop forced disappearances, including the NCMP’s establishment. However, they stress that the commission must have all necessary resources and be independent.
According to Kristine Beckerle, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, “truth, justice, and reparations for Syria’s disappeared must be treated as an urgent state priority.”
According to Beckerle, the NCMP needs “adequate resources and the highest levels of cooperation across all state institutions.” The stress of families awaiting answers about their loved ones’ fate and whereabouts increases with each day.
The effectiveness of the new commissions “depends on their actual independence and full access to information and documents,” according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.
The group argued that “the legal frameworks regulating their work must be formulated to ensure the representation of victims and civil society, and to strengthen the completeness of justice, from truth-telling to reparations to preventing recurrence,” according to the group.
The disappearance of a family member was “one of the deepest and most prolonged human wounds of the Syrian conflict,” according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Saturday.
The ICRC delegation in Syria, led by Stephane Sakalian, said in a statement that “the families of the missing deserve unwavering support and compassion to help them seek answers about the fate of their loved ones and put an end to their suffering.”
Their privacy is a fundamental human right.
Meanwhile, SANA, a state-run news agency in Syria, reported that witness accounts of those detained in al-Assad’s detention facilities, including the notorious Sednaya prison, were posted online.
In order to encourage the pursuit of accountability, the platform, created by journalists and activists, aims to serve as both a memorial and forensic archive.
According to the UN, al-Assad’s regime operated an unspecified number of secret locations and more than 100 detention facilities.
