The United Nations General Assembly has sanctioned a resolution to launch an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding over 130,000 individuals reported missing due to the ongoing Syrian conflict.
This resolution, a significant step in addressing calls from the families and associates of the missing, saw 83 affirmations from the 193-member world assembly, along with 11 negations and 62 abstentions. Syria, among several other nations including Russia, China, Belarus, North Korea, Cuba, and Iran, contested the resolution, vowing non-cooperation with the proposed body.
Luxembourg took the lead in proposing the resolution, acknowledging that after a dozen years of war in Syria, scant progress has been made in placating families by revealing the status and locations of the missing individuals.
The UN has consequently been granted the authority to set up the Independent Institution of Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic. This body aims to uncover the reality of the missing persons’ situation while offering substantial support to victims, survivors, and the bereaved families.
The new body pledges to follow principles of non-maleficence, impartiality, transparency, and confidentiality in relation to its sources and information. The UN Secretary General António Guterres is now mandated to lay down the terms of reference for the nascent institution within 80 working days and facilitate its swift establishment and operation.
The New York-headquartered Human Rights Watch emphasised the crucial need for the new institution to be equipped with appropriate resources for its task. Louis Charbonneau, the group’s UN director, expressed, “The people of Syria deserve no less”.
Syrian Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh criticised the resolution as a “politicised” move and an example of “flagrant interference” in Syria’s internal affairs. He implied the resolution bore testament to the “hostile approach” of the United States and other Western nations towards Syria.
Despite Ambassador Sabbagh’s argument that Syria has addressed the issue of the reported missing, with claims of disappearances processed by law enforcement and independent investigations conducted, the Syrian government’s cooperation remains a significant concern for the UN. The Syrian government has traditionally declined to collaborate with international bodies investigating missing persons.
The Syrian civil war, now in its 13th year, has inflicted death on nearly half a million individuals and forced approximately half of its pre-war population of 23 million into displacement. As per the International Commission on Missing Persons and the UN, more than 130,000 Syrians were reported missing in 2021 alone.
The lack of Arab countries’ participation in the vote is to be noted. Among the nations that abstained were many Arab countries, including past supporters of the Syrian opposition. Kuwait and Qatar were the only Arab nations to support the resolution.
Image Credit: Mahmoud Sulaiman on Unsplash
