Syrian opposition activists are calling on the United Nations and International Community to push for the release of tens of thousands of detainees in Syria, which they say is crucial to reviving the moribund peace process.
The group has met with U.N. Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura’s team in Geneva.
This is not the first time the group has broached this subject. Member of the Syrian Opposition’s High Negotiations Committee, Khaled Khoja, tells VOA the release of detainees in Syria is a crucial confidence building measure in the peace process.
He says the resolution of this issue would improve the atmosphere around the negotiating table.
“Making progress in this file, the detainees file will help us to improve the negotiation process and shift toward political solution with the other confidence building measures like breaking the siege and providing humanitarian aid for the Syrian people,” said Khoja.
The non-governmental organization, Syrian Network for Human Rights says it has documented more than 110,000 Syrian detainees. It says most — 91,000, including more than 2,700 children and nearly 5,700 women, are being detained by the government of Bashar al-Assad.
More than 11,000 others are under the control of Islamic State militants, opposition forces, the PYD Kurds, and Al-Nusra Front. The NGO says 75 percent of the detainees are considered to be enforced disappearances because the warring factions deny holding them.
The group’s founder, Fadel Abdul Ghani, says the Syrian Network for Human Rights believes twice as many people actually have been killed or disappeared. He says staff and volunteers on the ground are in the process of documenting their names and other vital data with families and friends.
He tells VOA arbitrary detentions continue as does the suffering of the victims.
“So, above the ground, we have shelling and bombing from the airplanes and from rockets and under the ground and inside the centers of detention, we have torture and we have starvation until death,” he said.
Ghani says the Syrian Network documents a monthly average of 50 to 60 detainees being tortured to death. He accuses Syrian President Assad of using the detainee issue as leverage to get his way in peace negotiations.
