The Cedar Centre for Legal Studies, represented by the Executive Director Saadeddine Shatila and Head of the Legal Department, lawyer Mohammad Sablouh, took part in an expert meeting on the search for missing migrants and asylum seekers in the Syrian context. The meeting was held on 1 December  2025, in Geneva – Switzerland, as part of international efforts to strengthen coordination and develop effective mechanisms for cross-border searches for the missing.

The meeting was organized by the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic (IIMP), in cooperation with the National Commission for the Missing, with the participation of experts from leading entities, including the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF), the Council of Europe, the Prosecutor’s Office of Italy, the National Police of Greece, the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Association of Families of Missing Asylum Seekers (AFOMAS), and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Participants exchanged expertise and developed joint strategies to address cross-border disappearances, emphasizing the centrality of families of the missing in any practical approach.

During the meeting, Cedar Centre’s Executive Director, Saadeddine Shatila, delivered an intervention addressing the situation of missing migrants and asylum seekers. He presented the Centre’s programs supporting refugees and irregular migrants, including legal interventions to prevent arbitrary detention and unlawful deportation, legal assistance to obtain documents and regularize status, as well as psychological and social support. He also highlighted the Centre’s advocacy and awareness efforts, such as the annual event on 6 February to commemorate International Day of Commemoraction for People Killed and Missing on the Migration Routes

Shatila also presented the support and rehabilitation program for victims of torture, which provides comprehensive legal, medical, psychological, and social services, aiming at reintegration and strengthening accountability under the Anti-Torture Law (No. 65/2017).

He referred to figures documented by the Centre since November 2023, including 63 deportation cases, mostly of Syrians; 200 cases of irregular migration involving Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians; and the loss or death of 85 people in tragic sea journeys departing from Tripoli. The Centre also submitted files on 17 cases of enforced disappearance to the Lebanese authorities, amid the ongoing absence of more than 17,000 missing persons since the civil war, including Abdul Rahman Al-Qaradawi, who was deported to the UAE at the beginning of 2025 and whose fate remains unknown.

In the field of advocacy, the Cedar Centre organizes regular roundtables in Tripoli and northern Lebanon to address the rise in irregular sea migration, with the participation of representatives from municipalities, ministries, security agencies, and civil organizations, to discuss humanitarian risks and develop joint strategies to protect civilians. The Centre also holds its annual 6 February event in Tripoli to commemorate those who died or went missing at borders and at sea, with the participation of victims’ families from tragedies such as the April, Tartous, and Cyprus boats, alongside officials and representatives of civil society and the media.

Finally, Shatila discussed the safe hotline launched by the Centre to provide legal, psychological, and social support to migrants exposed to human rights violations during sea migration journeys or deportation to Syria. This includes reporting torture, offering medical and psychological consultations, and physiotherapy, ensuring that all services are free and fully confidential.

For his part, lawyer Mohammad Sablouh presented the issue of those missing from migration boats, the violations they suffered, and Lebanese judicial irregularities.

This initiative aims to strengthen families’ right to truth—a right long awaited by relatives of the missing amid the absence of information and the persistence of pain over the years.

It is noteworthy that the Independent Institution, is a UN entity established by the General Assembly on June 29, 2023, in response to urgent appeals from families of thousands of missing persons in Syria to take action to determine their fate and whereabouts. The founding resolution of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons mandates clarifying the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons in Syria and providing adequate support to their families.