The Next Century Foundation held a side event on Thursday, 2 July 2026, during the 62nd Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, entitled “Human Rights in the Syrian Arab Republic: Addressing the Abduction of Women and the Protection of Vulnerable Communities.”
Jaafar Al‑Ahmar, UK Director of the Next Century Foundation, chaired and moderated the meeting, delivering an opening intervention that highlighted the situation of vulnerable communities, with particular emphasis on the gravity of women’s abductions and their profound impact on religious minorities and fragile groups.
The seminar featured Prof. Nicolas Levrat, United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues. Ms. Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, contributed a video‑recorded statement prepared specifically for the event. Dr. Jens Kreinath, Director of the Institute for the Documentation of Human Rights Violations Against Religious Minorities in the Levant, also participated, alongside Ms. Nina Aziz, Head of Notre Dame du Lumière, an organisation focused on Alawite women, and Mr. Ammar Waqqaf, Founder and Director of the UK‑based research institute Gnosos.
Discussions ranged from the case of Batoul Alloush to the broader pattern of attacks on Alawite communities in Syria, as well as the prevention measures required to protect women and girls.
Mr. Waqqaf described the paradoxical situation facing families in vulnerable communities, where fear of abduction leads some to prevent daughters, mothers, and sisters from attending school or work, pointing out that this pattern is confined only to Alawaite community.
Dr. Kreinath addressed the pressing and controversial case of Batoul Alloush, a young woman who halted her studies and cut off communication with her family after adopting a conservative Sunni lifestyle. Her family maintains she was abducted, while other accounts suggest a voluntary conversion.
Prof. Levrat called on the interim government in Syria to strengthen protections for minorities within its territory. He emphasised the need to rebuild trust between communities and noted the limits of the United Nations in facilitating this process.
Mrs. Nina Aziz, delivering her remarks in Arabic, concluded with an appeal for stronger international action in Syria.
The seminar closed with a shared recognition that the abduction of women in Syria is not an isolated phenomenon but a symptom of a wider collapse in protections for minority communities. Speakers agreed that responsibility rests first with the interim government, which must move beyond rhetorical commitments to inclusion and adopt concrete measures for investigation, accountability, and prevention.
The Next Century Foundation will continue to pursue these issues through its work and calls on all parties to place the protection of women and vulnerable communities at the centre of Syria’s transition.
For readers interested in further analysis, please refer to a recent blog by NCF Research Officer Saskia Perez on Alawite women and sectarian violence in post-Assad Syria.
