Human Rights Office: Worrying reports of dozens of cases of kidnapping and enforced disappearance in Syria

UNHCR reported that since the fall of Assad, some families have been reunited with their loved ones, while many still live in anxiety not knowing where their loved ones are or what happened to them.

Thameen Al-Khaitan, spokesman for the Commission, said at the press conference of the United Nations agencies in Geneva: “The fate and whereabouts of all missing persons must urgently be clarified, whether they went missing before or after the fall of the previous government.”. In this regard, he stressed the Commission’s support for the work The independent institution concerned with missing persons in Syria.

He pointed out that one of the recent prominent cases was the disappearance of Syrian Civil Defense volunteer Hamza Al-Ammarin, who went missing on July 16, 2025 while supporting a humanitarian evacuation mission during the violence in Suwayda, and who is still missing today.

Al-Khitan said: “We emphasize that all armed parties – whether they exercise state authority or not – must respect and protect humanitarian workers at all times and in every place, in accordance with international human rights law and international humanitarian law.”.

He stressed that achieving accountability and justice for all human rights violations and abuses, past and present, are essential in order to build a lasting, peaceful and secure future for all the Syrian people.