12 December 2008: The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) provided a special, in-depth presentation of its work to a high-level delegation of 20 national and International Prosecutors from the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutors’ Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The objective of the ICMP seminar was to provide prosecutors with an overview of the technical assistance that ICMP provides to governments in locating, recovering and identifying the mortal remains of persons missing from armed conflict, crimes against humanity and other violations of human rights.  Given that ICMP assistance in this regard is also relevant to criminal prosecutions, it is also important that prosecutors understand the scope of ICMP’s work and the type of assistance it…

10 December 2008: ICMP commends Bosnia and Herzegovina for marking the 60^th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights by holding a special session of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Rights of the Child, Youth, Immigration, Refugees, Asylum and Ethics of the Parliamentary Assembly.

During the special session Ms. Kathryne Bomberger, the Director-General of ICMP, noted, “There are still over 13,000 persons missing from the armed conflicts that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This fact constitutes one of the biggest human rights issues facing Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region today.”

A high-level delegation of 19 experts working on the issue of enforced disappearances in Colombia visited the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) at its headquarters in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 20^th to 25^th November, 2008.

The Colombian delegation received in-depth presentations of ICMP experiences and expertise, in strengthening institutional capacity, creating viable legislation and enhancing the technical means to locate, recover and identify missing persons.  In addition, ICMP stressed the importance of including civil society in all aspects of the process and ensuring that family associations of the missing in particular are fully educated and informed about the process.