‘Don’t give up’: Syrian women’s ongoing search for the missing

Yasmin Al-Mashaan lost five brothers during more than a decade of conflict in Syria. Two were forcibly disappeared. Three were killed during peaceful demonstrations or by snipers loyal to the Bashar Al-Assad regime.She found a picture of her brother, Uqba, among the “Caesar photos”, a cache of images smuggled out of Syria in 2013 documenting the deaths of thousands in government custody. That discovery, she said, is what pushed her to act.“I took it upon myself to seek the truth for all the victims who do not know the fate of their loved ones,” said Ms. Al-Mashaan, who serves with Syria’s National Commission for Transitional Justice.That drive has made her one of the country’s leading voices in the search for truth on Syria’s missing persons file.She was among those at UN Headquarters on Monday when the General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 19 December the International Day of Recognition for Women Searchers of Missing Persons.Read the full General Assembly resolution here.‘Tribute to courage’Estimates suggest that the number of the missing ranges between 130,000 and 300,000, according to the Independent Foundation for Missing Persons in Syria.“Women searching for their...