UN General Assembly funds new independent body to investigate fate of Syria's missing

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution enabling funding for a UN-backed independent body in Geneva that will investigate the fate of persons missing in the Syrian civil war, the UN news briefing said.

National organizations have documented more than 100,000 missing persons since fighting began in Syria in 2011. UN-appointed independent rights experts and others have repeatedly called for new information about the whereabouts of missing people for the sake of their families and in hopes of promoting a peaceful future for Syria.

The new UN-backed body, to start work later this year, aims to clarify the fate of all missing persons in Syria, according to the Swiss government, which contributed to the initiative. The briefing did not provide a start date or the body's formal mandate text.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.