Damascus, July 10 (SANA) The deposed regime registered at least 1,609 forcibly disappeared people, including women and children, as deceased in civil records without informing their families or disclosing the circumstances of their deaths, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).
The measure is one of the major violations committed by the regime to hide the whereabouts of detainees and forcibly disappeared persons during the Syrian revolution.
Registering the disappeared as deceased
Noor Arabo, head of the organization’s Detainees and Missing Persons Department, told SANA on Friday that the practice was among the most serious violations linked to enforced disappearance under the deposed regime, describing it as an attempt to close cases administratively without revealing victims’ fates or holding those responsible accountable.
Arabo said the practice came to light in 2018, when hundreds of families discovered during visits to civil registry offices that missing relatives had been officially recorded as dead despite receiving no prior notification and without being provided information about the circumstances, date or location of death or the return of remains.
More than 1,600 documented cases
The SNHR documented at least 1,609 such cases by the end of 2022 based on official death certificates, including cases involving women and children, she said. Arabo added that the figure represents only documented cases and is likely lower than the actual number because the organization records only cases supported by official documentation.
According to Arabo, many of the death certificates provided no explanation for the cause of death, while some indicated that deaths occurred in detention centers or military hospitals, reinforcing evidence collected by the organization that detainees died in custody as a result of torture or extrajudicial executions.
Civil records do not reveal the full truth
She said registering a person as deceased in civil records does not resolve the fate of the forcibly disappeared or satisfy families’ right to know the truth. That, she said, requires disclosing the circumstances, date and location of death, returning victims’ remains, and conducting independent investigations to identify those responsible.
Arabo said civil registry records now constitute important official evidence that could support investigations into enforced disappearances, but they do not resolve the issue while thousands of families remain unaware of the fate or burial sites of missing relatives.
She added that the deposed regime failed to follow legal procedures governing deaths in detention, including notifying relatives, investigating the causes of death, returning remains or identifying burial sites. She described the practice as part of a broader pattern of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and concealment of evidence through state institutions.
Enforced disappearance and the path to transitional justice
Under international law, enforced disappearance remains a continuing crime as long as the fate or whereabouts of the missing person remain unknown, Arabo said. Registering a victim as deceased without establishing the truth or returning the remains does not alter the legal characterization of the crime or remove responsibility, she added.
Arabo said preserving official records, identifying burial sites, providing judicial authorities with access to documentation and enabling families to recover the remains of missing relatives are essential steps in advancing Syria’s transitional justice process, strengthening accountability and ensuring such violations are not repeated.
Following the fall of the deposed regime, Syria established the National Transitional Justice Commission and the National Commission for Missing Persons to coordinate efforts to determine the fate of missing and forcibly disappeared persons, document violations and support accountability and reparations.
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