Action Group | Syria
Human rights researcher Nour Arabo, director of the Detainees and Disappeared Persons Department at the Syrian Network for Human Rights, affirmed that civil registry records can serve as official documents supporting investigations into enforced disappearances in Syria, but they do not resolve the issue of enforced disappearance or reveal the fate of the victims.
Arabo explained that listing the names of the forcibly disappeared in death records, without specifying the cause, date, or burial location of death, and without returning the bodies to their families, does not alter the legal classification of the crime of enforced disappearance, nor does it absolve those responsible from legal accountability.
She added that this practice became widespread in 2018 when hundreds of families were shocked to discover, upon visiting civil registry offices, that their forcibly disappeared sons and daughters were registered as deceased without any official notification or information clarifying the circumstances of their deaths. This has had a profound psychological and humanitarian impact on the victims’ families.
The researcher stressed that civil records may provide evidence that can be used in the course of investigations and documentation of violations, but they do not replace the need to fully uncover the truth, including determining the fate of the disappeared, revealing their burial places, and ensuring that those responsible for enforced disappearance crimes are held accountable.