The Search for the Missing in Syria: Learning from the Past

(Karla I. Quintana O. – Just Security) Syria faces one of the largest missing persons crises in the world. Estimates from the Syrian government suggest that between 130,000 and 300,000 individuals have been disappeared over nearly five decades, the majority since 2011, in a country of approximately 23 million people. This places Syria among the most affected contexts globally, both in absolute and relative terms. Nearly every Syrian family has been affected by disappearances. Addressing this crisis is therefore not only a humanitarian imperative, but also central to any meaningful process of truth, justice, stabilization, peacebuilding, and recovery. The fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 has created an unprecedented opening to address this crisis. For the first time, it has become possible to conduct search efforts on Syrian soil and to engage directly with families of the missing in their country. There is also a new national mechanism dedicated to clarifying the fate and whereabouts of the missing, the Syrian National Commission on Missing Persons (NCMP), which was established by presidential decree in May 2025. As the head of the Independent Institution of Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic (IIMP), established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2023 and mandated to clarify the whereabouts of the missing and support their families, I have witnessed both the scale of the challenge and the emergence of new possibilities. This moment presents a critical opportunity to apply lessons learned from other contexts and to avoid repeating past mistakes. The analysis and recommendations throughout this article draw directly from my experience working on these complex and demanding issues across diverse contexts. – The Search for the Missing in Syria: Learning from the Past