Includes bibliographical references. "February 2020"--Spine. "This report was researched and written by Sara Kayyali, Syria researcher in the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch"--Acknowledgments.
Contents:
Summary. -- Recommendations. -- Methodology. -- I. Mapping those who were disappeared at the hands of ISIS. -- II. ISIS military offensives. -- III. Prison bombings. -- IV. Searching for the disappeared. -- V. Handling of mass graves. -- VI. International legal standards. -- Acknowledgements. -- Annexes.
Summary:
The Islamic State's (ISIS) expansion in Syria and Iraq featured horrendous public abuses. Largely unseen but equally egregious were the widespread detention and kidnappings by the group -thousands of people snatched from their homes, cars, and at checkpoints, who subsequently went missing. This report highlights 27 cases of individuals or groups of persons apprehended by ISIS. It documents cases of activists, humanitarian workers, journalists, and anti-ISIS fighters from a range of groups, government and anti-government, as well as residents living under ISIS. Family members of those who went missing described their anguish at fruitlessly pursuing rumors, receiving promises of information in exchange for payments to suspicious intermediaries, and visiting former detention centers in hopes of finding clues about the fate of their loved ones. Under international law, all authorities are obligated to take all feasible measures to account for persons reported missing as a result of armed conflict in areas they effectively control and provide families with information on their fate. The end of ISIS' territorial control should have been an opportunity to provide answers to the families of those missing, the report but authorities currently in control of areas formerly under the control of ISIS have failed to account for persons reported missing or provide their family members with information it has on their fate. The report provides recommendation for how authorities can close the gap.
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