Foreign Minister's actions draw strong criticism from Committee on missing persons in Syria

The Committee of Families of the Kidnapped and Missing Persons in Lebanon welcomed the decision issued by the United Nations General Assembly to establish an independent institution tasked with uncovering the fate of all detainees, missing persons, and forcibly disappeared people in Syria. The Committee commended the 83 countries that voted to favor the resolution and condemned the abstaining and rejecting states.

In a statement, the Committee said, "first, we congratulate the Syrian brothers and sisters and associations who have been working for years to uncover the fate of all victims of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance. They have achieved this great accomplishment under the harshest and most dangerous conditions. On the other hand, we strongly condemn the official Lebanese stance of abstaining from voting. It is a shameful stance towards thousands of Syrian victims, including Lebanese and others."

The statement continued, "we strongly denounce the exploitation of this humanitarian file, which should be above all political considerations, in the domestic and international open political markets. We wish the Foreign Minister had not justified his action by claiming coordination with the Prime Minister, adding that missing persons have been unresolved for a long time and promising future efforts to resolve it."

It added, "here, we can only emphasize that the issue of missing persons in Syria is a humanitarian matter that must be resolved promptly, which does not justify Lebanon's abstention from the vote. If the Foreign Minister was referring to the issue of missing persons in Lebanon, he should be reminded that Law 105/2018 is nearing the end of its five-year term and remains abstract due to the government's failure to fulfill its basic obligations regarding the National Commission responsible for uncovering the fate of our beloved missing ones. Providing the necessary conditions for this commission to carry out its humanitarian mission is the starting point for the solution we have been waiting for decades."