Missing Persons’ Families Platform in North and East Syria (MPFP-NES)

The Missing Persons’ Families Platform in North and East Syria (MPFP-NES) is a comprehensive civil space for families of missing and forcibly disappeared persons. It was established on June 6, 2024, with the aim of organizing families’ efforts and empowering them to represent themselves and lead advocacy to defend their rights, including active participation in search efforts, truth-seeking, and achieving justice, which are considered essential pillars for achieving comprehensive and sustainable peace in Syria.

By October 2025, the MPFP-NES had over 750 members, all of whom are family members of missing or forcibly disappeared persons from different parties to the conflict and from diverse ethnic, religious, and social backgrounds.

The platform adopts principles of inclusivity, non-discrimination, and accountability, and addresses the issue of missing persons as a purely humanitarian concern, beyond political considerations and geographic divisions.

The idea to establish the platform arose from consultations held by Synergy Association for Victims in 2023 with families of missing and forcibly disappeared persons in North and East Syria. These consultations revealed the lack of institutional support and representation for these families, as well as their exclusion from truth and justice processes. In response, the MPFP-NES was created to provide a safe and representative space for families, enabling them to participate in policy-making and guide national and international efforts aimed at addressing the issue of missing persons in Syria.

The platform adopts a comprehensive definition of “missing persons,” which includes anyone whose fate or whereabouts are not clearly known—whether their disappearance is due to human actions, such as enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, or abduction, or due to circumstances related to armed conflict, displacement, or military operations. A person remains considered missing until their family receives reliable and confirmed information about their fate or whereabouts; Even when their status is clarified, efforts must be made to secure the release of detainees or return the remains of deceased victims to their families.

Through its community-led and accountability-based approach, the MPFP-NES seeks to build a sustainable model for the participation of families of missing persons in designing and implementing transitional justice policies, strengthening documentation and effective advocacy efforts, and contributing to laying the foundations for comprehensive and sustainable peace in Syria.

 

MPFP-NES Vision:

Truth and justice for the victims and families of the missing and forcibly disappeared, as a foundation for achieving comprehensive and sustainable peace in Syria.

 

MPFP-NES Mission:

Organizing the families of the missing and forcibly disappeared in North and East Syria, and empowering them to represent themselves and actively participate in efforts to search for the missing, reveal the truth, and achieve justice.

 

MPFP-NES Values:

• Respect: Preserving human dignity and rights, and respecting the experiences and suffering of victims and their families.
• Justice: Committing to ensuring the right to truth and justice for victims and their families.
• Solidarity: Supporting victims and their families in Syria and worldwide in their pursuit of uncovering the fate of their loved ones and achieving justice.
• Transparency: Committing to clarity and honesty in managing the platform’s activities.

 

What We Do?

• Providing a safe and reliable space for communication and the exchange of experiences among families of the missing and forcibly disappeared.
• Raising public awareness about human rights in cases of mysterious disappearance and enforced disappearance, while emphasizing the importance of active participation of victims, survivors, and their families in truth-seeking and justice processes.
• Organizing campaigns and activities to raise awareness and strengthen local and international solidarity with the families of the missing in Syria, and advocating for action to address this issue.
• Providing psychosocial support and legal guidance to victims’ families and empowering them to access justice.
• Enhancing cooperation with national and international actors working on issues of missing persons and transitional justice.

 

Terms and Criteria for Joining MPFP-NES:

MPFP-NES provides a comprehensive supportive space for families and relatives of the Syrian missing and the forcibly disappeared, without discrimination. However, membership in the platform requires meeting and complying with the following criteria:

• Commitment to and adherence to the goals and values OF MPFP-NES.
• Integrity and transparency in sharing information and participating in the platform’s activities.
• Commitment to cooperation and solidarity among members and with other victims’ families.
• Commitment to confidentiality and to not sharing information with unauthorized parties.