Jawab / The Missing
In preparationJawab begins from a distinction that shapes the whole project: access to information is not the same as public disclosure. A record can be valuable to a family precisely because it is handled carefully rather than published indiscriminately.
Question and approach
The question most often directed at an archive of detention is simple: Is the person I am looking for in your records? A single document may show that someone was detained, transferred, registered in a prison or recorded as dead.
Publishing such records openly can create new risks. Jawab therefore works through controlled search, verification of the family relationship and protected access to relevant information. Requests are handled case by case while the public portal is being prepared.
The project grew from the search for people disappeared by ISIS, including Mohammad Nour Matar, and now connects that experience to the wider question of missing people across Syria’s detention systems.
Role in the work
Matar leads the development of the access model and the questions that govern what can be returned to families, what requires verification, and what must remain protected. The archive, research and technical systems are developed collectively.
