Reem al-Kari and her cousin Lama are searching through dozens of photos of children spread out on a desk. Lama thinks she spots one with a likeness to Karim, Reem's missing son.
Karim was two-and-a-half when he and his father disappeared in 2013 during Syria's civil war, amidst chaos and turmoil. He is among the more than 3,700 children still missing since the regime's downfall. Now, at fifteen, the family's search for Karim highlights a tragic reality.
The new manager of Lahan Al Hayat, a Syrian-run children's shelter established with support from former first lady Asma al-Assad, compares the photographs as hope blends with despair in the room.
The plight of these families reflects a larger story of exploitation and misuse of power, where children were wrongfully taken from detained parents and placed in orphanages, often under false pretenses. Instead of finding family for these children, they were used as political pawns, observed investigators.
Newly accessible documents and testimonies from over 50 whistleblowers reveal SOS Children's Villages' significant involvement in this dark chapter. Operating internationally, the charity is said to have been influential in admitting children into their care without clarity on their circumstances, often pressured by Syrian state actors, which raises serious ethical implications.
As the situation develops in post-Assad Syria, surviving mothers like Reem, along with others, are left navigating a complex web of bureaucracy and deception as they seek to reclaim their children. While SOS International claims to have halted admissions of politically detained children, documentation indicates otherwise.
It is a painful reminder of the ongoing struggles for justice in a region steeped in trauma and loss, as mothers confront bureaucratic barriers that cloud any hope of reunification. Reem’s quest for Karim is emblematic of the heartbreaking reality faced by many parents amidst the echoes of a war that continues to haunt their lives.
