According to the last survey conducted by the Syrian Network for Human Rights, at least 194,000 Syrian citizens were detained by the Syrian regime’s forces. Among the detainees were approximately 9,000 citizens under the age of 18, and 4,500 women including 800 female and 35,000 male university students, Out of the 194,000 detainees, no less than 60,000 people who are deemed cases of “enforced disappearance”.
Enforced disappearance occurs when a person is arrested, detained, or abducted by the state or a political organization with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of the state or a political organization or by turning a blind eye to such an act, followed by a refusal to acknowledge denying this person his freedom or to provide information on his fate and whereabouts, with the intent of placing the victim outside the protection of the law for a long period of time