Unfortunately, certain individuals or groups may sometimes exploit the suffering of families of missing persons in Syria to extract bribes based on false promises of release or information about their loved ones. Such individuals may impersonate or falsely represent the Independent Institution for such purposes. We would therefore like to clarify that:
- The Independent Institution will never request a fee for its work.
- As of May 2025, the Independent Institution has no staff members or representatives in Syria or its neighbouring countries. All staff are based in Geneva, Switzerland, undertake specific missions to Syria, and use official UN email accounts ending with @un.org.
- Survivors and families may always deal with the Independent Institution directly if they so choose, and there is no requirement for them to use any intermediary to communicate with us.
If you have any doubts or have information about false representation of the Independent Institution, please contact us at iimp-syria@un.org.