Damascus, Sep.1 (SANA) The U.N. General Assembly unanimously adopted a Syrian-sponsored resolution in New York on Aug. 31, 2026, designating Dec. 19 as an international day honoring women seeking missing relatives, an initiative developed from the experiences of families in Damascus and elsewhere in Syria and the Middle East.
The initiative grew out of a humanitarian issue that has deeply affected thousands of Syrian families. Women — mothers, wives, sisters and daughters — have borne much of the burden of searching for missing relatives, preserving their memory and demanding answers about their fate. Their experience later became the foundation of the Syrian initiative.
From suffering to an international initiative
On June 29, 2023, the U.N. General Assembly established the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic under Resolution 77/301. Its mandate includes clarifying the fate and whereabouts of missing people and providing support to victims, survivors and families of the missing.
Following Syria’s liberation on Dec. 8, 2024, the missing persons issue entered a new national phase with the establishment of the National Commission for Missing Persons, which began working to search for missing people, determine their fate and support their families.
Drawing on those experiences, the commission proposed establishing an international day dedicated to women who continued searching for their loved ones. Syrian diplomacy then took the initiative to the United Nations.
From Damascus to New York
The initiative was not developed by official institutions alone. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said the draft resolution resulted from joint work with the National Commission for Missing Persons and drew on direct contributions from groups representing families of missing people during consultative meetings.
On July 22, 2026, the U.N. Security Council held an (Arria-formula) meeting on transitional justice and missing persons in Syria. Participants included National Commission for Missing Persons Chairman Mohammad Reda Jalkhi, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ibrahim Olabi and U.N. officials.
During the meeting, Jalkhi called on member states to support efforts within the United Nations to establish an international day honoring women from families of missing people, recognizing their resilience and affirming that supporting them is part of families’ right to truth and the pursuit of sustainable peace.
Women help shape the initiative
After the proposal reached the international arena, consultations moved directly to women with firsthand experience of the issue.
On July 27, Jalkhi and Olabi met a group of women from families of missing and forcibly disappeared people in a dialogue session focused on their experiences and views of the proposed international day.
The commission said the meeting was intended to develop the initiative based on families’ perspectives, women’s needs and their role in preserving memory and defending their right to know the fate of their loved ones.
Women were therefore not presented solely as people to be honored. They participated in shaping the initiative itself, linking recognition of their role to the fundamental rights of families of the missing.
From recognition to rights
The General Assembly’s adoption of the resolution on Aug. 31 moved the initiative from a Syrian proposal to U.N. recognition, establishing Dec. 19 as an international day honoring women searching for missing relatives.
The resolution calls for observances highlighting the efforts of these women and the consequences they face. It encourages states and the U.N. system to take measures to prevent and end discrimination and violence against them, protect their rights and ensure their participation in discussions and decision-making concerning their missing relatives.
Olabi: Keeping the issue in international memory
Speaking during the U.N. General Assembly session on Aug. 31, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ibrahim Olabi placed the resolution in its humanitarian context.
Olabi said its adoption would neither bring a missing person back to their family nor erase years of pain and waiting, but would preserve the struggle of women and the stories of their loved ones in international memory.
Addressing women searching for their relatives, Olabi said: “You asked when asking was an accusation, you searched when searching led to danger, and you preserved the faces when they were meant to be forgotten.”
He said their courage and resilience had brought the issue to the international arena.
Olabi noted that some women were themselves among the missing, describing the issue for them as “their cause twice over.”
He said the measure was the first draft resolution submitted by Syria in its new era and was dedicated to a humanitarian cause, marking a shift from an issue previously raised about Syria at international forums to an initiative put forward by Damascus at the United Nations.
From UN recognition to work on the ground
The international diplomatic effort coincided with a practical step inside Syria. On Aug. 30, the National Commission for Missing Persons launched the national “Athar” program for reporting missing and forcibly disappeared people.
Through an application and website, families can register information and file reports, alongside work concerning mass grave sites and support for families.
The program was launched on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, observed annually on Aug. 30 under U.N. General Assembly Resolution 65/209, adopted in 2010.
From Syrian initiative to international recognition
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates welcomed the adoption of the resolution, saying it recognizes the struggle of women who have carried the burden of searching for their relatives while holding to their right to know the truth, seek justice and ensure non-recurrence.
The ministry described the resolution as a milestone in Syria’s new diplomatic approach.
The National Commission for Missing Persons said it had proposed the initiative based on the experiences of families of missing people in Syria before the country took it to the United Nations. It said the designation represented international recognition of women’s role and the importance of their participation in efforts to search for missing people and determine their fate.
Within weeks, the initiative moved from the experiences of Syrian families to the Security Council, direct consultations with women and finally the General Assembly, where it was adopted unanimously.
The resolution does not end the search for the missing or answer the questions their families continue to carry. It does, however, establish lasting international recognition for women searching for missing relatives and keeps the issues of truth, justice and the dignity of families present in international memory.
A/Dh
