“Syria’s Missing Children” Wins the Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press
SIRAJ – Paris:
We are pleased to announce that the investigation “Syria’s Missing Children” has won the Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press, marking another important achievement for cross-border investigative journalism exposing violations against Syrians and placing victims’ stories and rights at the center of public attention.
The investigation revealed how the Assad regime detained and disappeared hundreds of children of detainees, separating them from their families and placing them in orphanages and care institutions. Some of these institutions received government funding, while others received donations from UN-affiliated entities.
The investigation was led by Lighthouse Reports and produced through an extensive collaboration involving journalists and local and international media organizations, including Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism – SIRAJ, Women Who Won the War, Al-Jumhuriya, Sowt, BBC, The Observer, Trouw, and Germany’s DER SPIEGEL.
At SIRAJ, we are proud to have been part of this cross-border journalistic collaboration, which brought together journalists and organizations from different countries and backgrounds around a shared purpose: to uncover the truth, amplify the voices of victims, and contribute to accountability for violations committed against Syrians.
The investigation was produced by:
Bashar Deeb, Monica C. Camacho, Charlotte Alfred, Julia Steers, Tessa Pang, Lynzy Billing, Mais Katt, Saleem Salameh, Bara’a Al-Ma’any, Jess Kelly, Haya Al Badarneh, Hajar Chaffag, Rosie Garthwaite, Mohannad Alkhalil Alnajjar, Juliane von Mittelstaedt, Ahmed Haj Hamdo, Ali Al Ibrahim, Manar Rachwani, Mohammed Bassiki, Wael Qarssifi, Mawada Kallas, Hanin Alsayed, Osama Alkhalaf, Isabel Bolle, Alaa Sheikh Hassan, and Zein Khuzam.
Read the full investigation:
“Syria’s Stolen Children: How Detainees’ Children Were Turned into Hostages of War Between Security Agencies and Care Homes”
The investigation is also available through BBC World Service, The Observer, Trouw, and DER SPIEGEL, and you can listen to the story via Sowt’s Shara’it podcast.
