A report produced by the Association of Detainees and Missing in Sednaya Prison (ADMSP) has revealed that Syrian families have been forced to pay bribes to corrupt officials in an attempt to obtain information about their detained relatives, or to pay for their release from prison. According to the report, approximately US$2,714,250 was paid to officials for “information, promise to visit, or promise to release.” Disappearances are not only used “as a weapon of suppression, war and terrorism,” but the bribes received also help to finance the state and provide the resources for such operations to continue. 

The Syrian Regime forces are the main party responsible for the arbitrary detention of 130,758 people, of which an alleged 84,371 have forcibly disappeared. The Syrian Regime forces are responsible for almost 85% of the enforced disappearances in Syria since March 2011. 

Before Bashar al-Assad became President after his father’s death, there were already a number of forced disappearances. During Bashar’s rein, however, the number has increased significantly – and more so following the 2011 uprising. In addition, approximately “1.2 million Syrians, or one in 18 of the population, are thought to have been arrested or detained at some point in the war”. It should be noted that this statistic relates to all arrests, not just enforced disappearances. 

THE INTERNATIONAL POSITION ON ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES

Enforced disappearance is when a person is “arrested, detained or abducted by a state or agents acting for the state, who then deny the person is being held or conceal their whereabouts, placing them outside the protection of the law”.

This practice is condemned internationally and is strictly prohibited and categorised as a crime against humanity under article 7 of the Rome Statute and article 5 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances (ICPAPED). Article 1 of the latter covenant states that there be “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance”. 

Syria is not a party to the Rome Statute or the ICPAPED, yet it is a party to the  Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which condemns acts of torture or ill-treatment. Enforced disappearances may mentally torture a person, as they are stripped of their liberty. The Syrian victims are also at risk of physical torture and death, as reports state they are “beaten with various objects as well as being placed in stress positions and then beaten”.

Furthermore, enforced disappearances violate the rights under the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including the rights owed to the families of the forcibly disappeared. This includes, for example, the right to “protection and assistance” (article 10), the right to “an adequate standard of living” (article 11), and the right “of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health” (article 12). Victim’s families are likely to develop mental illnesses not knowing the whereabouts of their relative – or whether they are even alive. This impacts their standard of living, as the forcibly disappeared is often the main provider of the family’s financial support.

The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, expressed his concerns about enforced disappearances and urged all states to “ratify the Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearances and to accept the competence of the Committee to examine the individual complaints”. But is this enough? Only 63 countries have ratified this convention since its introduction nearly 30 years ago. It is apparent that more action is required to encourage states not only to ratify the convention, but to physically bring this practice to a halt. This can only be done with unity amongst all states. 

The ADMSP calls for “maximum pressure” on states who support the Syrian regime, like the Russian Federation, to compel Syrian officials to reveal the whereabouts of the forcibly disappeared and to allow their families to visit them.  

It is unlikely that this situation will disperse in the foreseeable future unless immediate action is taken. As expressed by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, “no progress can be made in reaching a political settlement and a lasting peace in Syria without urgently confronting the justice-based needs of Syrian victims and survivors as well as their families”.

After having completed the Bar Professional Training Course (2018), Safia currently working as a Costs Advisor in a law firm. Her life goal is to make a positive change in the society we live in, no matter how small that change might be.

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