MSDUN Resolution 2254 on Syria recommends confidence-building procedures which include releasing detainees from prisons. But this recommendation has not been implemented, and thousands of Syrian families are still suffering from the consequences of this file, despite of local, regional, international initiatives and appeals. The latest of which is the initiative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. António Guterres and UN Special Envoy for Syria, Mr. Geir Pedersen. Due to poor prison conditions and violation of human dignity, and in addition to the instructions of the World Health Organization (WHO) to prevent infectious diseases and outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, the mandatory application of social spacing is impossible to apply in prisons.
We in the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) consider the release of all detainees, including, prisoners of conscience, the kidnapped, and revealing the fate of those missing, are a guarantee for any sustainable political solution of the Syrian conflict. Such things will be relevant for reducing societal tensions, protecting civil peace and rebuilding trust among Syrians.
The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) calls on the release of all detainees and the kidnapped, and to reveal the fate of those missing and forcibly disappeared. This should be done in compliance with the principles of international human rights law and for the sake to reduce the sufferings of the Syrians and work to achieve their dream of freedom, democracy and justice in a democratic decentralized state- and in response to the initiative of United Nations, calls on all parties in Syria to release all the detainees and the kidnapped, and to reveal the fate of the missing and forcibly disappeared persons. It calls on all sides to reveal detention centres.
We raise our voice with the families of the detainees, the kidnapped and the missing, in order to have a quick mobilization by the organizations, local and international commissions and to stand with the sufferings of the detainees and their families, adopt their demands and put pressure on all parties to the conflict for that purpose.
The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) seeks to make the file of the detainees, the kidnapped and the forcibly disappeared a humanitarian file above negotiations. It should not be linked to development of the file of political settlement.
Therefore, we announce our readiness to work jointly with every Syrian civil and human rights organizations with the aim of forming a working team from families of the detainees, the kidnapped, specialists in law and civil society activists. The mechanism of the team and their names will be announced throughout a special press conference. This work will be ready continuously in light of recent political and military developments, giving it moral, political and humanitarian importance and putting it again in the spotlight.
The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) will do whatever is necessary to make the required progress and eliminate all ambiguities in the file of detention. In this field, it has developed a series of steps and procedures that will be announced as soon as possible.
March 28, 2020
The Syrian Democratic Council
