Enab Baladi – Omar Alaa Eldin
Since its formation on May 17 under the presidency of Mohammad Reda Jalkhi, the National Commission for Missing Persons in Syria has not issued any information clarifying its action plan or the way in which the file of missing persons in Syria – which exceeds 100,000 according to estimates by the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria – will be managed.
According to Decree No. “19”, the commission is tasked with searching for and revealing the fate of missing and forcibly disappeared persons, in addition to documenting cases, establishing a national database, and providing legal and humanitarian support to the families of the missing.
According to the decree, Mohammad Reda Jalkhi is appointed president of the commission, tasked with forming a working team and establishing internal regulations within a maximum of 30 days from the date of the announcement.
Welcoming and cooperation plan
The head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria, Karla Quintana, welcomed the decree of the Syrian president for the transitional phase, Ahmed al-Sharaa, to form the National Commission for Missing Persons in Syria, appointing Dr. Mohammad Reda Jalkhi as its president.
What is the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria?
It was founded by a decision from the United Nations General Assembly on June 29, 2023, as an agency affiliated with the United Nations, responding to urgent calls from families of thousands of missing persons in Syria to take action to identify their fates and whereabouts.
The founding resolution of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria states the following:
Clarifying the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons in Syria. Providing sufficient support for victims, including survivors and families of the missing.Quintana stated in an interview with Enab Baladi, “The establishment of the National Commission for Missing Persons in Syria is an effective step towards addressing the issue of missing persons and its relation to national reconciliation and peacebuilding. It is an acknowledgment of the pain that families feel for their missing loved ones and the open wound that remains in every home in Syria.”
She added, “As part of our humanitarian mandate, the Independent Institution on Missing Persons supports Syria’s efforts to search for all missing persons without exception. People have been lost in Syria over more than 50 years of the regime’s rule, including 14 years of war.”
Quintana revealed that she communicated with the head of the National Commission for Missing Persons, Mohammad Reda Jalkhi, and agreed with him on points for cooperation.
She noted that the institution is ready to cooperate with the commission and support its efforts, adding, “We have always said that the search for missing persons should be Syrian-led with international support.”
She continued that the Independent Institution can provide technical support and advanced forensic methodologies, targeted search plans, enhance national infrastructure and the necessary human resource capabilities for the search, provide lessons learned from various international experiences, coordinate international support for national efforts, among other efforts.
Inclusive and non-discriminatory
Yasmin Mashaan, a member of the Caesar Families Association, considered the formation of the National Commission for Missing Persons “a comprehensive step for all missing persons without discrimination.”
Mashaan demanded, in an interview with Enab Baladi, for real and effective participation of victim families, ensuring a vital path for the work of this institution, allowing for monitoring, evaluation, and providing consultations. She pointed out that victim families are not mere information providers, as they have gained experience through their own experience of searching for and tracking the missing, which will facilitate the work of the commission.
Mashaan considered that families, with their experience, are capable of leading search operations, providing consultations, formulating work strategies, monitoring and evaluating the work of this institution, measuring its transparency, in addition to helping formulate support strategies, assessing family needs, and identifying legal issues and their consequences that families have faced.
The Caesar Families Association has documented 6,000 individuals who were killed under torture from 2011 to 2017, from the photos leaked by “Caesar.” After the fall of the regime, a large number of families contacted the association to report missing persons, raising the number of missing persons to over 130,000 according to statistics from the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), according to Mashaan.
Mashaan believes that the priority for the National Commission, in cooperation with the Independent UN institution, is to establish a record of victims and build a laboratory for review, to think about the post-investigation phase and the excavation of graves.
Challenges, mainly building trust
Researcher at the Syrian Dialogue Center, Nawras al-Abdullah, sees the challenges as consisting in successfully drafting a clear internal system for the National Commission for Missing Persons that does not contradict or duplicate the Transitional Justice Authority.
According to al-Abdullah’s statements to Enab Baladi, the other challenge lies in building trust with the Syrian community and victim families, as well as with active groups and committees in the file, and successfully forming a qualitative working team of diverse expertise who strongly believe in the issue of enforced disappearance and the suffering of Syrians from this grave violation of human rights.
Al-Abdullah emphasized that financial resources and achieving results as quickly as possible, given the vast numbers of forcibly disappeared in Syria, represent further challenges.
Recommendations
During her discussion with Enab Baladi, the head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria, Karla Quintana, provided several recommendations for the National Commission for Missing Persons, which include:
Searching for the missing in Syria is a massive task that cannot be accomplished by anyone alone, and it is crucial to collaborate with all active bodies and concerned parties. Everyone’s efforts must come together to advance this matter. Involving families and civil society organizations that have been working on this issue for years is vital in the process of searching for missing persons in Syria. The Independent Institution on Missing Persons has an important role in helping provide knowledge and expertise, working together to support national efforts.Researcher Nawras al-Abdullah also offered recommendations to those responsible for the commission which include “conducting serious and intensive expert sessions to draft the commission’s system, especially its powers,” which practically ensure its ability to carry out its designated tasks, its administrative structure, the qualifications of its core team, how to select staff, and the main governance controls such as participation, transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness. He also called for “guaranteeing an open relationship and clear accountability from the community.”
Preliminary project
The head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria, Karla Quintana, stated that since her appointment, she has conducted several meetings in Geneva, Brussels, and Damascus with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Asaad al-Shibani.
Based on the minister’s request, “we exchanged a preliminary project document regarding possible collaboration and support, determining the role we can play concerning Syrian efforts, and this project has established the basis for constructive discussion with Dr. Mohammad Reda Jalkhi,” Quintana revealed to Enab Baladi.
She added, “For us, one of the key elements for fully carrying out our mandate and deepening cooperation is establishing a local field presence. We have already submitted an official request, and involving families and civil society organizations that have been working on this issue for years is vital in the process of searching for the missing in Syria.”
Syrian National Commission for Missing Persons faces time, funding and building trust challenges Enab Baladi.
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