The National Authority for the Missing on Saturday, August 30, launched a platform titled “Supporting the National Authority for the Missing in Syria” in cooperation with six Syrian civil society organizations that have been documenting cases of enforced disappearance since 1970. The announcement came during a press conference attended by Enab Baladi along with local and Arab media outlets.
The platform (support group) aims to create a national database of missing persons, develop an identification card project to support families legally, psychologically, and socially, and establish protocols for witness protection and data sharing.
Participating organizations include the Syrian Center for Justice and Accountability, the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, the Syrian Archive, the Association of Detainees of Sednaya Prison, Lawyers and Doctors for Human Rights (LDHR), and the Caesar Families Association.
The National Authority for the Missing was formed on May 17, 2025, by Decree No. 19 issued by Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
To date, the authority has documented more than 63 mass graves in Syria. Estimates place the number of missing persons between 120,000 and 300,000, with the possibility of much higher figures due to difficulties in documentation, according to authority president Mohammed Reda Jalkhi.
A Syrian-Syrian Platform
Zina Shahla, media adviser to the National Authority for the Missing, said the platform is primarily concerned with data and documentation to build a national database of the missing.
Speaking to Enab Baladi, Shahla explained that the platform is a nucleus for cooperation among the participating organizations and could be developed further. Its core principle, she said, is data-sharing between civil society groups.
Currently, the platform focuses on collecting data on the missing, but in the future, working groups may emerge to provide various forms of support to families, including legal and psychological aid.
“The ultimate goal is to uncover the fate of the missing, discover the truth, and provide answers to families,” Shahla said.
She added that international organizations concerned with the missing in Syria were absent from the launch because the initiative is a Syrian-Syrian effort aimed at strengthening national capacity on this issue.
Shahla noted that the authority has not yet begun its own documentation of missing Syrians. Instead, it relies on data compiled by existing associations and organizations, which provide preliminary estimates. She stressed that actual numbers could rise because many families did not report missing relatives for security, political, or social reasons.
Collecting and consolidating data from different organizations is a challenge, she explained, because each uses different documentation methodologies. The authority is therefore working toward a unified methodology for documentation.
According to Shahla, the authority’s mandate covers all missing persons, Syrians and non-Syrians inside Syria, as well as Syrians who disappeared abroad. It will also coordinate with local and international governmental and non-governmental bodies that can provide databases, documentation assistance, or technical support, including DNA testing, under the sovereignty of the Syrian state.
Supporting the Authority
Diab Serrieh, director of the Association of Detainees of Sednaya Prison, told Enab Baladi that the platform is meant to support the authority with data and expertise accumulated by Syrian organizations over years, particularly in data collection and search methodologies. He said the platform would help establish protocols for locating the missing in Syria and assist the authority on its long road toward uncovering the truth.
Authority president Mohammed Reda Jalkhi said earlier that the body is preparing for a national conference on the rights and needs of families of the missing. Its main tasks, he explained, revolve around support and documentation, including DNA collection and genetic fingerprinting.
He added that the authority has secured approvals to make use of laboratories belonging to the Ministry of Health and the Syrian Atomic Energy Commission, along with grants to train Syrian staff in forensic science and documentation in Europe.
International Recommendations
Karla Quintana, head of the Independent Institution for Missing Persons in Syria, welcomed President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s decree establishing the National Authority for the Missing and appointing Dr. Jalkhi as its head on May 17.
In a previous interview with Enab Baladi, Quintana said, “Establishing the authority is a significant step forward in addressing the issue of the missing, and in linking it to national reconciliation and peacebuilding. It acknowledges the pain of families searching for loved ones and the wound that remains open in every Syrian home.”
She added, “In our humanitarian mandate, we support Syria’s efforts to search for all missing persons without exception. People disappeared in Syria during more than 50 years of authoritarian rule, including 14 years of war.”
Quintana outlined several recommendations for addressing the issue:
The search for the missing in Syria is a massive task no single actor can accomplish alone. Cooperation among all stakeholders is essential.
Involving families and civil society organizations that have worked on this issue for years is vital to the process.
The Independent Institution for Missing Persons has a key role to play in providing expertise and working together to support national efforts.
National Authority for the Missing in Syria Launches Support Group with Civil Society Organizations Enab Baladi.
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