Kidnapping and changing the parentage of children of detainees and dead in Syria: Danger and effects

After a month of painstaking work on dozens of pieces of information and testimonies, it became clear that the file of children of detainees, martyrs and missing persons is more complicated than it appears on the surface.

The Zaman al-Wasl team documented many names, most notably:

1. 31 Syrian children transferred by the intelligence services to SOS Children's Villages; there are dozens of other names that were transferred to orphanages and are being verified.

2. 47 Iraqi children were transferred by the intelligence services to orphanages; there are also children of non-Arab nationalities whose names are being verified.

3. All of these cases were transferred only from the Air Force Intelligence in Damascus and its countryside during the era of the defunct regime from 2011 to 2016, which means that the total numbers of missing children may be much higher if the rest of the security departments and other Syrian cities and the years from 2016 to 2024 are included.

4. We obtained an official document confirming the change of lineages of detained children through cooperation between orphanages and civil registration departments.

5. We received serious testimony about the sale and distribution of children of martyrs, detainees and kidnapped people to influential and powerful families.

* Call for action:

We call on the Syrian national media to contribute to the investigation into this file, and we are ready to provide all forms of support and assistance.

Among these cases, an incident was documented related to two children who were deported with their families from an Arab country after the Norwegian embassy rejected their asylum request, which ended with the arrest of the two families in their entirety.

* Serious dimensions

This file carries extremely serious criminal dimensions, and requires the opening of an official investigation by the Attorney General of the Syrian Arab Republic.

We have documented confirmed cases indicating that children were given to soldiers for adoption, or sold to specific families.

* Call for institutions and organizations

We call on the Syrian state and all organizations concerned with children's rights to take urgent action to support the opening of this file, and to ensure a transparent investigation that reveals the facts and provides justice for the children and their families.

This file is not just a passing issue; rather, it is a deep wound that must be dealt with with the highest levels of responsibility and humanity.