TUNIS, Tunisia — Concerns continue to grow over the fate of a group of around 120 Syrians, Palestinians and Yemenis who have been missing within Algeria since being detained. The group was initially stopped Dec. 26 by Algerian officials in Tamanrasset in southern Algeria, before being ordered to report at the Guezzam border post on the frontier with Niger.

According to our latest information, around 20 of the original group are stranded in the desert, 3 kilometers (roughly 2 miles) from the Guezzam border post. The whereabouts of the others is unknown, with observers concerned that they may have fallen victim to a hard-line migrant policy of mass expulsions that has in the past earned the North African country the opprobrium of the international community.

On Jan. 3, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) took the unusual step of issuing a public appeal for access to the missing group, stressing its concern over the welfare of these vulnerable individuals. According to the UN refugee agency, several members of the party are already known to them "as registered refugees who have fled conflict and persecution or claim to have attempted to seek international protection in Algeria.”