Damascus, April 30 (SANA) Head of the committee investigating the fate of the sons and daughters of detainees, Raghda Zeidan revealed that the committee, linked to Syrian Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor , has documented 314 cases of missing children who were placed in the ministry’s care homes during the ousted regime’s era.
“194 children have been reunited with their families, while the search continues for the remaining children whose entry into these homes has been documented,” Zeidan told al-Ikhbariya TV.
She explained that the committee was formed immediately after the liberation of Syria and was later amended to include representatives from the Ministries of Interior, Justice, and Religious Endowments, as well as civil society organizations and families of the missing.
This was done to ensure the accuracy of the work and the analysis of files in care homes and juvenile detention centers. She also noted the establishment of a volunteer team of families of the missing, trained to participate in archiving, field visits, and providing legal, material, and psychological support.
Zeidan clarified that the number 314 is not final and may increase as new cases are discovered.
She noted that accredited organizations have documented approximately 3,800 missing children during the years of the revolution. However, the committee’s mandate is limited to children placed in care facilities affiliated with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor during the era of the deposed regime, stressing that the majority of cases occurred between 2012 and 2015, the period that witnessed the peak of disappearances and abuses.
Zeidan stressed that this issue is not merely a matter of numbers, but a direct consequence of the policies of the ousted regime, its chaotic administration, and the absence of oversight. This explains the difficulty in accessing information about the children and the missing persons.
She pointed out that the deposed regime was a direct cause of the disorganized files and incomplete data, including missing addresses, phone numbers, and names, along with the tampering with or disappearance of some files after the liberation.
MZN
