SNHR: Almost 100,000 forcibly disappeared in Syria, mainly by Assad regime

Almost 100,000 people in Syria have disappeared and been classed as missing since the beginning of the ongoing Syrian conflict in 2011, largely by the Syrian regime, a human rights organisation revealed last week.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) released a report on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on Sunday revealing that at least 99,479 people in Syria went missing since March 2011 until August 2020.

The vast majority disappeared at the hands of regime forces and state security, numbering a total of 84,371, among whom 4,982 were women and 1,738 were children.

Some 8,648 individuals, including 319 children and 225 women, disappeared at the hands of Daesh.

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According to the report, the Syrian regime has only acknowledged that 991 people died within detention, including two women and nine children. “Approximately 65% of all detainees have become enforced-disappearance cases as the Syrian regime has never informed their families of their whereabouts,” the report stated.

The Syrian regime’s domination of the figures of disappeared individuals shows that it has “demonstrated a lack of commitment to the international agreements and treaties it has ratified.” It also comes after SNHR revealed in July that over 14,400 people have been tortured to death in Syria since the start of the conflict, with the regime being responsible for over 98 per cent of that number.