A/HRC/24/46 66. Both pro-government forces and anti-government armed groups engaged in hostagetaking, in violation of international humanitarian and criminal law. D. 1. Enforced disappearance Government and pro-government forces 67. Instances of enforced disappearance have risen exponentially since the conflict began. By placing victims outside the protection of the law, government forces sewed terror among the civilian population. 68. Enforced disappearance infringes on a person’s fundamental human rights, including the rights to liberty, to personal security and to a fair trial. A crime under international law, it is a violation which persists for years after the initial arrest or abduction. It is a gateway to other offences, such as torture. 69. Enforced disappearance was carried out by government forces, including Air Force and Military Intelligence, and by National Defence Forces. In Aleppo, Damascus, Dara’a, Dayr az Zawr, Hamah and Homs, civilians were arrested following army raids. Individuals were abducted in their homes, at checkpoints, in mosques and in hospitals. Victims were taken to unknown locations, their whereabouts undisclosed. 70. Across the country, families wait – sometimes for extended periods – to know the fate and whereabouts of their relatives. One interviewee’s brother was arrested in Dara’a in March 2012 by members of Security Branch 215, and has not yet reappeared. 71. Families have justified fears that searching for their relatives may lead to reprisals. Some who reported a disappearance were themselves detained. Authorities also refused to provide information or to acknowledge arrests. One defector, who worked in Air Force Intelligence in a central governorate until late 2012, cited orders that information about detainees was not to be provided to their relatives. The desperation of families has left them vulnerable to extortion. Some families pay bribes to those who – often falsely – claimed they could provide information. 72. In most cases, the only way to obtain information is when a detainee is released. One interviewee, held for over a year by an intelligence agency, was confronted upon his release by dozens of women thrusting photographs of their male relatives towards him, hoping he might have seen them during his detention. 73. Most frequently targeted are males over the age of 15. In some cases, however, elderly women and children have been “disappeared”. One interviewee reported that, following the army’s counter-offensive in Bab Amr in March, soldiers abducted his neighbours, including women and children. These families were not seen again. Medical personnel, internally displaced persons and individuals fleeing the violence have also vanished. On 8 June, a family fleeing fighting in Al-Waar neighbourhood, Homs city, was stopped by soldiers. The husband was arrested and taken to an unknown location. 74. Enforced disappearance is used by government and pro -government forces as a strategy of war, to stifle dissent and to spread terror within society. It is committed as part of a widespread attack against a civilian population, with knowledge of the attack, and constitutes a crime against humanity. E. Torture and ill-treatment 75. Torture remains widespread. Severe physical and mental pain and suffering is deliberately inflicted to obtain information or confessions, as punishment, to intimidate or 11