At the end of June, the UN General Assembly will be called to vote on a resolution to establish an independent institution to clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing people in the Syrian Arab Republic, a milestone in the international community’s response to the Syrian conflict.

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Since 2011, more than 100,000 individuals have gone missing or been forcibly disappeared by Syrian authorities and other
parties to the conflict, including armed groups such as ISIL. In 2021, Syrian families and survivors called for the creation of a new independent, humanitarian institution that will focus on victims’ inalienable right to know the truth about their loved ones.

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The call to establish such a new institution is supported by the UN Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for HumanRights, the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

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The independent institution will be the first-ever response to the Syrian conflict to be entirely imagined and developed by Syrian victims and survivors of enforced disappearance and families of missing persons. The efforts made by Syrian families need the broadest and strongest support possible.

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We, therefore, call on UN member states to support the families’ right to truth by voting in favor of the resolution. Voting for the resolution will constitute a major step towards bringing long-awaited answers to thousands of families who have been suffering loss and uncertainty.

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Progress on this issue is fundamental to families, communities and society as a whole. The international community must extend a hand of practical support and assistance to families and victims in need. The people of Syria deserve no less.

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SIGNATORIES
1. TRUTH AND JUSTICE CHARTER
2. Association of Detainees and Missing Persons in Sednaya Prison
3. Caesar Families Association
4. Coalition of Families of Persons Kidnapped by ISIS (Massar)
5. Families for Freedom
6. Ta’afi Initiative
7. General Union of Internees and Detainees
8. Release Me
9. Hevdesti-Synergy Association for Victims
10. Adra Detainees Association
11. Families of Truth and Justice
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12. Afrin Platform
13. Afro-Middle East Centre
14. Ali Mourad (Academic & Legal Researcher)
15. Amnesty International
16. Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial Brussels
17. Austausch – For a European Civil Society, Berlin
18. Avaaz
19. ASSOCIATION DE PARENTS ET AMIS DE DISPARUS AU MAROC
20. Building Blocks for Peace Foundation
21. Budapest Centre for Dialogue and Mass Atrocities Prevention
22. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
23. Cameroon O’Bosso
24. CCFD-Terre Solidaire
25. Center for Civilians in Conflict
26. CenterforVictimsofTorture
27. Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS)
28. Child Rights International Network (CRIN)
29. CivicAssistanceCommittee
30. Collectif des Familles de Disparu.e.s en Algérie (CFDA)
31. Committee of the Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon CFKDL
32. Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights
33. Dawlaty
34. Democracia Global
35. Denis Hurley Peace Institute
36. Donde Estan?-Où sont-ils? France
37. Dozana
38. Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms
39. Euro-mediterranean federation against enforced disappearances
40. FIDH – International Federation for Human Rights
41. Finjan
42. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
43. Global Justice Center
44. Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
45. HAKI Africa
46. Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
47. Human Rights Center “Viasna”
48. Human Rights Solidarity Organisation
49. HumanRightsWatch

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50. Hurras Network
51. Independent human rights and media project OVD-Info
52. International Alert
53. Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention
54. International Center for Transitional Justice
55. International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR)
56. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
57. Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights
58. Justice and rehabilitation
59. Justice for life
60. KharkivHumanRightsProtectionGroup
61. Khulumani Support Group
62. Khwendojirga
63. Legal Action Worldwide
64. LelunAssociationforVictims
65. Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan
66. MiddleEastandNorthAfricaPartnershipforthePreventionofArmedConflict(MENAPPAC)
67. Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Right Studies
68. MovementforDemocracy,DevelopmentandTransparencyCameroon
69. NetworkofindependentCommissionforHumanrightsinNorthAfrica.
70. Nobel Women’s Initiative
71. PAX for Peace
72. Peace Direct
73. Permanent Peace Movement
74. Ras-ALAIN platform
75. Russi contro la guerra
76. Salam For Yemen
77. Solidarity 2020 and Beyond
78. Stand with Syria Japan (SSJ)
79. Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS)
80. Syrian Lawyers Aggregation
سوريون من أجل الحقيقة والعدالة )Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ .81
82. Syrian Memory Institution (SMI)
83. Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR)
84. Syrian Welsh Society
85. TERRE ET LIBERTE POUR ARAUCO
86. The association Syrian Sweden
87. The Syrian Swedish Democratic Network (SSDF)

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88. The Day After
89. The Syria Campaign
90. The Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)
91. The Syrian Legal Development Programme (SLDP)
92. Truth Hounds
93. VDSH
94. VSI Action4life
95. WANEP NIGER
96. Wheat Olive Platform
97. WILDAF
98. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
99. Women Now for Development
100.Women’s Refugee Commission
100. World Uyghur Congress
101. World Federalist Movement – Canada 102. YouthHubAfrica