ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday that at least 30,000 people remain missing in Syria over the past 14 years, warning that the real number is “much higher.”
“Over the past fourteen years, the International Committee of the Red Cross has registered more than 35,000 cases of missing persons, and today we have 30,000 files still open for missing persons,” ICRC Syria spokesperson Yasmin Bedir told Rudaw.
Bedir warned that the actual number of missing persons in Syria is “much higher,” explaining that the official number - which includes more than 3,000 children - features “only the families that have approached the ICRC.”
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa earlier in May signed a decree announcing the formation of an independent “national commission for missing persons” which operates throughout the country, attempting to provide answers for tens of thousands who went missing during the brutal reign of former dictator Bashar al-Assad.
The ICRC welcomed the decision from Damascus as “a very positive decision and a first step towards finding solutions and answers for the families of the missing.”
“Today, we are offering our services and expertise to the authorities and remain committed to supporting the families of the missing. We hope that this committee will bring together all concerned parties in Syria, especially the families of the missing and local and international institutions, to combine efforts because the task is very large,” Bedir said.
She reiterated that the issue of missing persons in Syria is a “top priority” of the organization, and that they “will not stop searching” for answers.
On Saturday, Syrian interior ministry spokesperson Nouraldeen Albaba said that over eight million Syrians were wanted by Assad’s intelligence and security services.
Syria’s interim government has agreed to help the United States find its missing citizens in the country, according to the US special envoy, amid thawing ties between Damascus and Washington.
In December, a coalition of opposition groups led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), then commanded by Sharaa, ousted Assad’s regime. Sharaa was appointed interim president in late January.
Since taking power, the new leadership in Damascus has repeatedly called on the international community to lift Assad-era sanctions, arguing that they are hindering the country’s economic recovery and post-war reconstruction.
On Friday, the US Treasury issued the Syria General License (GL) 25 to effectively lift all sanctions, a few days after the European Union also decided to lift all economic sanctions on Syria.
Nalin Hassan contributed to this report.
