October 14, 2026
SOS Children’s Villages was used by the Assad regime to hide children and extort their parents. Years on, the troubled global charity has failed to release an investigation into its role or compensate Syrian families.
Under the former regime of Bashar al-Assad, Syrian security forces took hundreds of children from their imprisoned parents and ordered SOS and other orphanages to hide their identities and whereabouts.
Last year, an investigation by Lighthouse Reports and eight Syrian and international media outlets reviewed thousands of official records to establish how the regime used the children to pressure their families and negotiate prisoner exchanges.
SOS Children’s Villages, a federation of over 130 member associations headquartered in Austria, pledged to investigate its role in what had happened. But neither of the two independent investigations commissioned by the charity have seen the light of day.
One report, delivered in December by a prominent Norwegian law firm, was later declared “compromised” by the head of the federation. In an internal meeting he blamed unnamed staff for “trying to manipulate the result of the report to basically make us look like we are the villains.”
A draft copy of the report, seen by Lighthouse Reports and its partners, states that SOS was not forced to accept children from the security services and that SOS’ international office in Vienna – not the local Syrian association – had ultimate responsibility for SOS facilities where security services brought most detainees’ children.
SOS’ German association – SOS Kinderdörfer weltweit – commissioned a separate report. It found that more than a dozen international staff were informed about the children early on but it “was not initially considered problematic” and only stopped 18 months later “ primarily due to “reputational concerns,” according to a statement about the findings by the German directors, which was later removed from the website.
In recent months, several SOS associations asked to confidentially review a copy of the Norwegian report and were refused. This has added to growing tensions threatening to break apart the charity, which was founded in 1949 by Austrian Hermann Gmeiner. In October 2025 SOS revealed that Gmeiner had repeatedly been accused of child abuse over decades.
Six SOS associations in Europe – who contribute significant funds to the organisation’s budget – have since decided to leave the federation and become independent charities; others are also considering leaving. In December, SOS faced a potentially fatal financial blow when the directors of the German association – the largest single contributor to SOS – voted to leave. But the board overruled them and dismissed the three directors in February.
The previous year, the German directors had set aside funds to compensate Syrian victims, and asked several other national SOS associations to contribute. Nothing has been distributed since.
In response to our questions, SOS Kinderdörfer weltweit said the investigation was ongoing and the statement was published prematurely and later taken down at investigators’ request. He said the board members were dismissed for breaches of duty, including ending the contract with the investigators, which had delayed progress in establishing a compensation fund.
A spokesperson for SOS Children’s Village International told us their board had taken “independent legal advice” regarding the Norwegian report and a review was still ongoing. “We remain deeply concerned about [the families’] circumstances and have expressed our willingness to support affected families. However, providing assistance in Syria depends on legal and practical conditions that require coordination with relevant parties.”
METHODS
The investigation interviewed former and current staff working for the SOS federation and its member associations around the world. We analysed and verified hundreds of pages of internal documents, correspondence and meeting records.
STORYLINES
Mohammad was taken by Assad’s security forces from the hospital just four days after he was born. His mother, still recovering from caesarean section, was sent to prison. The security officials texted his father Abdelrahman a picture of his baby: “If you want your family back, give us prisoners.”
It was years before he met his son, when he was finally released in a prisoner exchange between regime and opposition forces.
“Everytime I call my son or wife and they don’t answer, I panic” said Abdelrahman, who now lives in Turkey. “I drop everything and rush home, terrified that something might have happened to them.”
CO-PUBLICATIONS
- Süddeutsche Zeitung: Mohammed, aged four days, abducted by the Assad regime