The Syrian Network for Human Rights recently estimated that 136,000 people were forceably disappeared during the Bashar-al-Assad régime. This would be a staggering number for any nation, but in a country with population of roughly 23 million, it implies that the vast majority of Syrians personally know someone who was disappeared.

Recognizing this, our “Disappearances in Syria” conference shall address questions that are both “large” and “small.” “Small,” because one of our objectives is to familiarize our audiences with some of the bare facts of disappearances in Syria, and “large” because we also wish to understand how the disappeared are being sought, how the various cases and patterns of disappearances are being documented, and how the truth that is emerging during this moment of catharsis is being discussed in a deeply fractured, wounded, society.