“We may be facing the most complex missing persons case in modern history”, Shadi Haroun told Justice Info. A former detainee under the Assad regime in Syria, he is now a coordinator at the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) in Damascus. According to him, the lines between perpetrators, territories, and chains of command are often blurred in Syria. “It is about a new pattern of disappearance and burial. For the first time, we are confronted with composite mass graves shaped by multiple, overlapping forces operating within the same geography. In many other conflicts, the zones and parties are clearly defined. That is not the case here.”
A National Commission for the Forcibly Disappeared (NCM) was created on May 17, 2025, along with a Commission for Transitional Justice (NCTJ). Eleven months later, while it is hard to assess the commission’s work or have a clear view of its working plan. According to Haroun, an advisory council was first created in June 2025 to support the commission, pending the nomination of its official team. Most of the advisers come from civil society backgrounds: human rights activists, journalists, and members of missing people organizations. This council was formed in cooperation with national and international NGOs, under the management of Mohammad Reda Jalkhi, who was appointed head of the NCM by presidential decree in 2025.
Before the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024, Jalkhi served as secretary of Idlib University, where he obtained a PhD in international law in 2023. Since the new authorities came to power, Jalkhi has held a series of prominent positions. In March 2025, he was part of the committee tasked with drafting the Syrian Constitutional Declaration. He took several roles within Damascus University, including dean of the Faculty of Political Science and supervising researcher at its Center for Strategic Studies, while chairing the Syrian Virtual University.
The NCM presented a brief profile of its advisers on its official Facebook page on 26 June, and through reports by the Syrian News Agency. Key members include: Jaber Ismail, a consultant for government entities and international organizations including USAID, and advisor to the Syrian Civil Defense since 2018; Ayman Shamo, an engineer and human rights activist, head of the France-registered organization Caesar Files for Justice; Dyab Sirya, executive director of the Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Sednaya; Zina Shahla, a former detainee and journalist providing strategic guidance on media and documentation; Amenah Koulaani, a prominent activist and former detainee with direct experience of disappearance; and Sarah Al-Hamid, an academic researcher in Paris whose work on transitional justice is informed by her father’s disappearance.
The advisory council now includes specialists in mental health, forensic medicine, and medico-legal documentation: Dr. Jalal Noufal, Mohamed Al-Zou’bi, Mahmoud Assoad, and Bilal Bakour. Legal and international accountability expertise is brought by Aws Al-Dabish Doctor of International Law and former lawyer in the UN Mechanism for Syria (IIIM), and Mayasa Alsheikh Ahmed, specializing in women enforced disappearance.
The diversity of the advisory council is meant to ensure that the NCM’s work benefits from both professional expertise and lived experience, supporting a holistic approach to documentation, advocacy, and accountability in the Syrian context. According to Haroun, the president of the commission is still in the process of forming his official team and continues to rely on its advisory council in the absence of permanent staff.
Coordination with government still needs to begin
However, there is some lack of clarity about the NCM mandate. Jalkhi declared to Al-Jumhuriya, a news website, that “this Commission is for all Syrians and independent from the government”, in an article titled “Syria’s Open Wound”, published on 9 March 2026.
In three separate interviews conducted by Justice Info with advisory council members who requested anonymity, one stated that the commission’s work is limited to those forcibly disappeared before the fall of the regime, and that cases of disappearance after the regime’s collapse fall under the responsibility of the Ministries of Interior and Justice. Another advisor said that the commission must assume responsibility for all forcibly disappeared in Syria. He said he was aware that a law is currently being drafted but had not been provided any details.
However, the presidential decree establishing the commission does not specify any limitation to its mandate. Since its establishment, the Commission has primarily focused on building coordination mechanisms with different actors, according to Haroun, at the local community level, with civil society organizations, and with international organizations and United Nations institutions. There is a fourth level currently under discussion, “although its framework has not yet been fully developed”, Haroun said, with government bodies and ministries.
Families of the missing in need of support
One idea currently being discussed within the Commission is the creation of a Council of Families of the Missing, whose role would be to involve them in shaping the policies, providing recommendations, and serving in an advisory capacity. Another proposal under consideration is the creation of an online platform for families, allowing them to report missing relatives.
But practical challenges remain. The economic and social situation, as well as limited access to technology, represent obstacles between the Commission and the families of the missing. Ranim, 17, from the town of Ain-Tarmah, says: “I lost my father when I was very young, to the point that I can hardly remember him. But my mother is still holding on to the hope of determining his fate. She used to attend meetings organized by the NCM, but after several she stopped going because transportation was too expensive and the meetings were useless.”
According to Haroun, a dedicated online support platform was being prepared in January 2026 to assist the Commission and facilitate coordination with civil society organizations and detainee associations. As of April 2026, however, no official announcement has yet been made.
Difficult coordination with international organizations
At the international level, the Commission has signed cooperation protocols with several organizations working on missing persons. These organizations include the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), Lawyers and Doctors for Human Rights (LDHR), the Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Sednaya (ADMSP), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), as well as other international mechanisms dealing with documentation and accountability.
Yet, reports by international organizations, as well as analyses published in Syrian media such as Al-Jumhuriya, suggest that coordination between national institutions and international mechanisms remains complicated. Political sensitivities, overlapping mandates, and questions over access to information and operational space continue to shape these relationships.
Uneasy communication with victims
Shortcomings in communication between the Commission and victims show a mix of high expectations and determination among the latter, and the difficulties to address it.
Aya, from Western Ghouta, Damascus countryside, told Justice Info that her brother disappeared in Deir ez-Zor while attempting to defect from Assad’s army. “He was captured by ISIS [Islamic State organization] and detained in one of their prisons,” she said. “Later, when the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) took control of the area, ISIS prisoners were held in SDF facilities.” According to Aya, after the current Syrian authorities regained control over parts of eastern Syria, families began hearing that some ISIS detainees might be transferred to Iraq. “We rushed to contact the Missing Persons Commission,” she said. “We found the phone number on their official Facebook page. But when we called, the number turned out to be wrong.”
Justice Info verified that some of the phone numbers listed on the Commission’s official Facebook page were indeed incorrect, while reporting numbers appeared to change from one post to another.
Aya said that after eventually finding another number, her father managed to reach the Commission, only to be told that the institution was not yet receiving reports about missing persons.“If they cannot even publish the correct phone number,” her father interrupted angrily, “how are they going to find our children?” However, when asked whether they would try to contact the Commission again, Aya replied quietly: “We have no other choice. We are like a drowning person holding on to a straw.”
Among families of the missing, rumours are circulating that part of the issue may be entangled in ongoing political negotiations between the Syrian authorities and the SDF, amid pressure from Damascus for the latter to integrate into the newly formed Syrian army. According to local sources from areas formerly under the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES(, the file of missing persons, along with mass grave investigations, may be used as political leverage against Kurdish leadership, potentially shaping public opinion against them. While such claims remain unverified, they reflect a growing scepticism among some families about whether the missing persons file will be addressed independently.
Independence and political will
On paper, the Commission was designed to operate as a fully independent institution. The decree establishing it explicitly guarantees its autonomy, and its institutional structure was conceived to support neutrality and independence. “However, its real independence will only be tested over time,” said Haroun. According to him, the independence of such institutions does not ultimately depend on the personal views or biases of those working within them, but rather on the political will to address the issue of the missing.
He points to the example of Lebanon’s National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared. Because several prominent political figures were involved in the Lebanese civil war, the commission has faced significant political, legal and financial constraints. Today, Haroun says, the Lebanese commission still struggles with limited resources, to the point that it does not even have a permanent physical headquarters.
In the Syrian case, however, Haroun believes it is still too early to draw conclusions. “The process is still experimental,” he said. “We cannot judge it yet.” At the same time, he noted that the speed at which the Syrian commission was established is unprecedented compared with many other post-conflict contexts, which he says could be seen as a positive sign.
The Commission still does not have its own premises and is currently hosted within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There is ongoing discussion about a dedicated office under construction in the Mezzeh area, but it is not yet complete. According to a United Nations source, confirmed by three different insiders within the Commission and its advisory council, the government’s financial support amounts to $500,000. None of the sources agreed to comment under their own names and directed us to the press office, which declined to answer.
Prioritizing construction over the excavation of mass graves?
Hazem and Alaa sit on this balcony every afternoon. “Alaa is troubled. He smokes where no one can see him,” explained Hazem. Asked why he would come up with him, he replied: “The view is nice.” But as I was leaving the building, Alaa called out to me and said: “You know a massacre happened here.”
“Even children know the locations of mass graves in the neighbourhood, yet the state does not,” says Abu Ali, a 60-year-old resident of Tadamon in southern Damascus. “Or perhaps they do know, but choose to ignore it. Every day, contractors and construction workers find human bones and skulls at building sites and under the rubble.” He continues angrily, “These pits are well known to us. During the Assad era, the National Defence Forces used them to dispose of bodies. It is no surprise that no one wants to investigate them – somehow, the former commander of this militia has become an ally of the new government, and we do not know why.”
Abu Ali’s account is not isolated. Many residents pointed to known locations of mass graves beneath destroyed buildings, public parks, and other sites across the neighbourhood. In some construction areas, bones were reportedly collected and moved before eventually disappearing. “Maybe the dogs ate them,” said one construction worker.
Haroun explains that the excavation and investigation of mass graves require forensic, logistical, and international expertise that is currently lacking in Syria. He argues that, for now, the priority should be mapping these sites until the necessary capacities are in place. The Commission has already exchanged maps with international bodies that previously documented mass grave locations in Syria, and has itself recorded several sites in the northeast and north of the country. These activities, published on the Commission’s official Facebook page, were reportedly based on reports from local residents. But residents closer to Damascus, such as in Tadamon, do not understand why theirs remain unaddressed.
“I lost my two sons 13 years ago. They went out to bring food and never returned,” Abu Ali says. “In the end, I found their bodies in a garbage container next to the park – which later became a mass grave. It was an area of clashes between the Free Syrian Army and the pro-Assad Popular Committees – later the National Defence Forces. When I tried to retrieve the bodies, I was prevented from entering. Days later, when access was possible, the bodies had disappeared.” He adds, “I want to find my sons’ bodies, and I want justice.”
Standing beside him, a soldier interrupts: “If the government does not act quickly to investigate and hold those responsible accountable, we are ready to do it ourselves. We know our enemy. We see them every day. But we are being patient.”
