UN experts on Monday called for an end to the arbitrary, indefinite detention of approximately 52,000 people in Syria.
The detained individuals — mainly concentrated in northeast Syria — are those whom the local Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have accused of adherence to the extremist group Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL), with over 52,000 people currently held incommunicado without due process, 60% of whom are children.
Syria saw the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, following the Assad family’s 40-year reign and a devastating 14-year civil war that resulted in mass human rights violations and the systemic torture of thousands of people. During the civil war, much territory was lost to ISIL and opposing groups such as the Kurdish-led SDF. While the territory formerly under ISIL control has been liberated, the SDF has been detaining individuals suspected of having ISIL ties in the northeast region. Fighting has also continued between the SDF and rival Syrian National Army (SNA). Both groups have since agreed to merge into the new government’s national army as part of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa‘s mission to unite Syria.
The SDF’s often arbitrary detentions have only added to the overall number of detentions and enforced disappearances throughout Syria during the period of Assad’s rule, with estimates of over 112,000 individuals reported missing. Those held in SDF detention camps are not only ISIL suspects, but also the families of suspects, children, orphans, refugees, internally displaced people, and human trafficking victims, with more than half of detainees being non-Syrian nationals.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and UN experts — including several Special Rapporteurs and Independent Experts — have urged Syria to use the country’s political transition as an opportunity to devise a solution to this crisis, with the safe integration of prisoners back into the mainstream society. Human rights experts have also recommended that other countries support Syria by repatriating their own citizens who remain detained.
