For many years, the Assad regime has used arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance as a tool of repression against its real and perceived critics. Over 96,000 men, women, and children remain forcibly disappeared by the regime to this day – leaving families desperate for answers about their fates – with the regime extorting and punishing those trying to learn more. On this International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the United States stands in solidarity with victims and survivors of enforced disappearance, as well as their families, and is taking action to promote accountability for this cruel abuse.
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. These restrictions come in addition to restrictions on 21 Syrian regime officials and their immediate family members that Secretary Blinken announced under this authority in March 2024 and December 2023.
The actions of these individuals are part of a broader systemic pattern of abuses committed in Syria. The United States calls on the Assad regime and other actors in Syria to cease the reprehensible practice of disappearance and abduction, clarify the fate of those missing, humanely release all those still alive, return the remains of those who have perished in its custody, and engage in good faith with the newly established Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria. Furthermore, we call on these actors to halt any retaliatory and exploitative actions against individuals seeking information on the status of missing persons. We reaffirm our unwavering support for the Syrian people, including in their ongoing peaceful demands for freedom and dignity, and we will continue to take action against actors responsible for the repression of Syrians. Furthermore, we continue to stand in solidarity with all U.S. citizens who are missing or unjustly detained in Syria, and we call on the Assad regime to account for its actions.
The Department of State’s steps to impose visa restrictions were taken pursuant to a Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, under the policy Secretary Blinken announced in December 2023 to promote accountability for current or former Syrian government officials or other individuals who are believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, the repression of Syrians and the production or trafficking of the amphetamine-type stimulant captagon from Syria.
