The United Nations establishes an institution to reveal the fate of the missing Syrians

On Thursday, the United Nations General Assembly established an “independent institution” in order to “clarify” the fate of thousands of people who have been missing in Syria for 12 years, which is a repeated request by their families and human rights defenders.

The decision provides for the establishment of the “Independent Institution for Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic, to clarify the fate and whereabouts of all the missing” in Syria, who non-governmental organizations estimate have numbered about 100,000 people since the outbreak of the popular uprising in 2011.