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. He is one of more than 3,700 children still missing since the fall of the Assad dictatorship. He would now be 15.
Are his eyes green? asks the man behind the desk, the new manager of Lahan Al Hayat. The task is enormous.
Lahan Al Hayat is one of several Syrian childcare facilities used to hold the children of detained parents during the civil war. Instead of being re-homed with relatives, they were kept as political pawns and sometimes falsely recorded as orphans.
When Assad's regime finally fell in December, access to crucial records and documents became possible, sparking investigations into the hidden children. Insights into these records show that an Austria-headquartered charity, SOS Children's Villages International, has been at the forefront of this troubling narrative.
In interviews, former SOS employees alleged that the organization had been complicit with the Assad regime, accepting children without due diligence to boost funding. More than 50 whistleblowers spoke out, claiming that many SOS officials were appointed by the Assad palace.
SOS responded to these allegations by denying any formal link to the regime while expressing regret over the separations.
The chaotic aftermath of the regime's downfall leaves many parents like Reem waiting with unanswered questions. In a bureaucratic labyrinth, they seek pathways to reconnect with their loved ones but often meet resistance and silence from the very institutions that took their children.
As the investigations unfold, the intertwining of humanitarian efforts and political exploitation continues to leave a scar on the Syrian people, raising essential questions about accountability and the future for these children.
