​​​​​​​​​​​​​Committee formed for missing persons in NE Syria

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria revealed, that it had formed a committee concerned with missing persons in NE Syria, which was published on the official website of the administration, in which it reads:

After the issuance of United Nations General Assembly Resolution No. A/77/L79 dated May 23, 2023, which includes the establishment of the "Independent International Institution for Missing Persons" in Syria, and the Autonomous Administration, through the Department of Foreign Relations, welcomed this decision.

Based on the AANES's belief in the necessity of resolving humanitarian issues that were an inevitable result of the ongoing conflict on Syrian land, and on top of these issues is the issue of missing persons, for 2 main reasons:

The first reason is: the extent of the pain that the families of the missing people experience at every moment of the loss of their loved ones, and the right of these missing persons and their families to clarify their fate.

As for the second reason, it is: the importance of resolving this file due to the necessity of resolving the Syrian crisis in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions, especially Security Council Resolution No. 2254 of 2015 AD, as well as its Resolution No. 2474 of 2019.

Based on the AANES's conviction of the need for international institutional cooperation in order to resolve all outstanding files and issues, including the file of the missing, the United Nations General Assembly resolution ruled that the goal of establishing the international institution is to "clarify the fate of all missing persons in Syria" in "close cooperation and integration with all the parts involved.

In its resolution, the United Nations General Assembly called on all parties to the conflict in Syria to fully cooperate with the independent international institution, which the resolution decided to establish, in accordance with their obligations under international law, and also called on the actors in Syria to cooperate with the independent international institution.

For the aforementioned and in response to the call of the United Nations General Assembly, the AANES, through the Department of Foreign Relations, established an institution named "The Committee on Missing Persons in North and East Syria" consisting of a group of lawyers. This institution consists of a central committee based in the city of Qamishlo and sub-committees in various AANES areas, this committee coordinates and cooperates with the concerned authorities to search and follow up the fate of missing persons from the areas of the AANES since the beginning of the Syrian crisis with the parties to the conflict in Syria, without discrimination on the basis of gender, nationality, religion or sect.

Accordingly, and through this statement, we announce to the local, regional and international public opinion the establishment the "Committee on Missing Persons in North and East Syria", and the date of the start of the committee's work and how to communicate with it will be announced later.

Sh-S

ANHA