US Sanctions Syrian Officials on International Day of the Disappeared
"Over 110,000 persons remain forcibly disappeared or arbitrarily detained, including thousands of children and women," Blinken said.
WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – The U.S. State Department announced on Friday that it was designating 14 Syrian officials for visa restrictions, as it marked the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.
A statement issued by Secretary of State Antony Blinken affirmed, “The United States stands with all victims of the crime of enforced disappearance, and we call upon those who perpetrate this crime to immediately cease the practice and return victims to their families.”
Blinken singled out three countries for their particularly egregious abuses. One was China, “where members of religious and ethnic minority groups, lawyers, activists and others are targeted.”
Another involved “Russia-occupied parts of Ukraine, where thousands of civilians have been disappeared or held incommunicado,” he stated.
And the third was Syria “where over 110,000 persons remain forcibly disappeared or arbitrarily detained, including thousands of children and women.”
The Office of the Coordinator for International Advocacy within the Kurdistan Regional Government marked the day by noting the extraordinary number of Kurds who suffered enforced disappearances, particularly during Saddam Hussein’s “Anfal Campaign,” and then after 2014, when ISIS emerged in the midst of Syria’s civil war, before it burst across the border and occupied one-third of Iraq.
U.S. Action Against Syrian Regime Officials
“For many years, the Assad regime has used arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance as a tool of repression against its real and perceived critics,” State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a written statement, issued on Friday.
Noting the large number of disappeared Syrians, Miller stated that this had left “families desperate for answers about their fates—with the regime extorting and punishing those trying to learn more.”
“Today, the Department of State is taking steps to impose visa restrictions on 14 Syrian regime officials for their involvement in repressing rights in Syria, including involvement in or association with enforced disappearances,” Miller said.
Friday’s action follows on similar restrictions that the State Department imposed in December 2023 and March 2024 on 21 Syrian regime officials and their immediate family members, Miller explained.
Notably, the State Department did not provide the names of any of the Syrian officials affected by the new travel restrictions. Perhaps, they were informed privately, and in any case, they would learn, if they tried to apply for a visa.