Damascus, Syria – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced on Saturday that more than 37,000 people have been reported missing in Syria over the past 14 years, stressing that the “families’ right to know remains a fundamental humanitarian principle.”
The organization said it continues to support the Forensic Identification Centre in Damascus by providing equipment, technical expertise, record-keeping training, and guidance on protecting burial sites and advancing efforts to identify victims.
According to the ICRC, the search for the missing is not the responsibility of a single party, but requires ongoing cooperation between families, associations, authorities, civil society, international organizations, and donors.
The agency also noted its coordination with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, which deals with cases of missing persons linked to migration and natural disasters, to ensure families receive the answers they deserve.
Also read: Families Left Homeless in Southern Syria After Israeli Demolitions
The figures were released in a new report published amid Syria’s ongoing humanitarian crisis. Earlier this year, ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric told Agence France-Presse that establishing the fate of the missing in Syria represents an enormous challenge after more than 13 years of devastating war. She warned that identifying victims and informing their families “will take years to accomplish” and admitted that some cases “may never be resolved.”
The fate of tens of thousands of missing and detained Syrians, many believed to have died under torture and buried in mass graves by the ousted Bashar al-Assad regime, remains one of the darkest legacies of the conflict, which has killed more than half a million people since 2011.
Although thousands of prisoners were freed following the December 8 collapse of Assad’s rule, countless Syrian families are still searching for answers about the fate of their loved ones.
