BEIRUT: Amnesty International has called on Syrian authorities to investigate the abduction of 36 Alawite women and girls, citing credible reports of kidnappings in recent months.
The rights group urged accountability for perpetrators amid ongoing instability following the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.
The report follows massacres in March in Syria’s coastal Alawite heartland, where a monitor estimated 1,700 people, mostly Alawite civilians, were killed.
A committee investigating the violence last week said it had not received reports of abductions involving women or girls.
Amnesty documented eight cases of abductions in Latakia, Tartus, Homs, and Hama provinces since February.
Families reported the incidents, but authorities failed to conduct effective investigations in nearly all instances.
In two cases, officials reportedly blamed the victims’ families.
Only two of the eight abducted women and girls have returned home.
“The Alawite community, already devastated by previous massacres, has been deeply shaken by this wave of abductions. Women and girls are afraid to leave the house or walk alone,“ said Amnesty International’s secretary general Agnes Callamard.
The rights group demanded Syrian authorities “urgently step up efforts to prevent gender-based violence” and ensure thorough investigations.
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria also reported abductions of at least six Alawite women, with credible evidence of more cases. – AFP
