BBC Eye Investigations follows the journey of Reem al-Kari to find her son Karim Turjman - one of 3,700 children who went missing during Syria’s civil war from 2011 to 2024. During her search for her child, she finds out how hundreds of children were held in orphanages by the regime in order to extort their relatives, and why many have never been found. The scale of one of one global childcare charity’s involvement in the disappearance of children of political detainees under the EU-sanctioned Assad regime in Syria is revealed through Reem’s search. These orphanages were supported by global donations but used as prisons by the sanctioned Assad regime. The film also reveals how little the current government is doing to support parents like her trying to find and reunite families. Syria’s Stolen Children is part of a joint project with Lighthouse Reports, The Observer, SIRAJ, Der Spiegel, Trouw, and Women Who Won the War. SOS Children’s Villages International admit that they have lost track of at least 104 children placed with them and have launched an investigation to find out what happened. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour decided not to respond to our team’s request for comment. The Assad family did not respond to our request to comment.
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