Source: United Nations (Video News)
“The number of people affected by armed conflict, including those reported missing in this context has only continued to increase,” said Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific.
Briefing the Security Council today (May 15), Khaled Khiari said that in 2024 alone, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) registered 56,000 new cases of missing persons. “There is no comprehensive figure for those missing in conflict, but we know enough that the situation is dire,” he said.
Khiari welcomed the recent release of Edan Alexander, an American-Israeli national previously held hostage in Gaza, calling it “a source of hope.” He added, “I echo the Secretary-General’s words of profound relief that Mr. Alexander was able to return to his family and loved ones after this harrowing ordeal. However, many more remain missing. An estimated 58 Israeli hostages, 35 of them presumed dead, still remain unaccounted for in Gaza.”
He also voiced concern over the situation of Palestinians detained by Israeli authorities since October 2023, noting that many of them “remain unaccounted for.”
On Ukraine, Khiari reported that following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, large numbers of civilians in Russian-occupied territories have been detained, with some held incommunicado. “According to OHCHR, some of these cases may amount to enforced disappearances,” he said. “An unspecified number of Ukrainian civilians, including Ukrainian children, have also been reportedly transferred to the Russian Federation.”
Sung Eui Lee, Chief Director of the Korean War Abductees’ Family Union (KWAFU), said, “Family is one of the most fundamental values for human beings made to be together, and the abduction, a crime of enforced disappearance is a serious crime against humanity that produces ongoing tragedy.”
Ruby Chen, father of hostage Itay Chen, said, “What kind of human beings take deceased people and use them as negotiation chips? Who denies the deceased the last basic human dignity that they deserve?” He described the withholding of information about his son as “a form of slow and enduring psychological torture.”
Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative Maria Zabolotskaya said, “Even such an important matter as the search for missing persons is being used as a means of political pressure.” She added, “This approach is counterproductive and leads to the degradation of humanitarian cooperation.”
Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said, “So many in this Council, so many righteous nations, have said next to nothing. There are currently 58 hostages being held in Gaza, some alive, some murdered. All denied the rights. All denied access. All denied the dignity that should never be in question.”