Monthly Archives: April 2015

Holy See representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina visits ICMP

30 April 2015: H.E. Apostolic Nuncio in Bosnia and Herzegovina Msgr. Luigi Pezzuto and ICMP Director- General Kathryne Bomberger met today in ICMP’s Headquarters in Sarajevo. H.E. Pezzuto was briefed by Ms. Bomberger on ICMP’s programs in the Western Balkans and the rest of the world. A significant segment of the meeting was also dedicated to a discussion about the Mediterranean Migration Crisis and how to deal with missing persons cases from these horrific events.

Msgr. Pezzuto was impressed by today’s visit to ICMP, not only by the amount and the scope of work this organization is doing but by the scientific methods and approaches being used as well. “ICMP’s engagement is human above anything, but important and useful as well. In the world that we live in, the world full of chaos and problems, it is of crucial significance to have an organization such as this one,“ said Apostolic…

BiH Day of Remembrance for All the Missing

Forum representative Ema Cekic in front of National Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina

24 April 2015: Members of the Forum on the Memorialization of Missing Persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina today presented a petition to the BiH Council of Ministers, the BiH Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees, and the BiH Parliament.

The petition calls on the authorities to proclaim 30 August as the “Official Day of Remembrance of All the Missing.” It also calls for full implementation of the Law on Missing Persons – which stipulates, among other things, that the authorities have an obligation to support memorialization of the missing. And it calls on the authorities, from this 30 August, to begin presenting an annual report on implementation of the Law.

“The initiative to make 30 August the “Official Day of Remembrance of All the Missing has the support of a broad cross-section of family associations from every part of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Forum representative Ema Cekic. “It is inclusive, appropriate…

Systematic, Professional and Impartial Effort to Find the Missing Must Continue

21 April 2015: The authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina must maintain a systematic, professional, and impartial effort to account for the missing, even though nearly 20 years have passed since the end of the conflict, Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdic said today.

Mr Zvizdic was speaking during a meeting in Sarajevo with Kathryne Bomberger, Director-General of the International Commission Persons (ICMP). At the meeting Ms Bomberger briefed the Chairman of the Council of Ministers on ICMP’s Stocktaking Report, which describes in detail the efforts that have been undertaken over more than two decades to account for the missing in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He stressed that the key institutions responsible for addressing the missing persons issue, the Missing Persons Institute and the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, must be given the political, administrative and financial support that they need in order to do their job, and all available methods should be…

A Joint Effort to Account for the Missing

Banja Luka RT participants discussing about ICMP's Stocktaking Report

17 April 2015: Participants at a Roundtable organized by ICMP in Banja Luka today stressed the need to continue the joint effort to account for the missing in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bosnia and Herzegovina leads the world in the ratio of missing persons it has been able to account for following the conflict of the 1990s: more than 70 percent – around 23,000 of roughly 31,500 reported missing.

This has been possible because the work of accounting for the missing has been undertaken in a coordinated, systematic and science-based manner.

Since ICMP first pioneered the use of DNA in 2001, almost 15,000 DNA identifications have been made in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The sophisticated database technology developed by ICMP to match blood samples given by family members with DNA extracted from human remains is now used all over the world. In addition to a dedicated software program, this technology has required a major…

ICMP International Treaty to Come into Force

The Hague, 10 April 2015: In early April the United Kingdom followed Sweden in ratifying the Agreement on the Status and Functions of the ICMP, which opened the way for the Agreement to come into force in mid May. The Framework Agreement was signed in Brussels on 15 December by the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg and Sweden. The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg will ratify the treaty during 2015.

The Agreement constitutes ICMP as a treaty-based international organization with its own system of governance and international capacities. It provides for a new organizational structure, including a Board of Commissioners as its principal organ and a Conference of State Parties.

“ICMP has now taken a major step forward in meeting the global challenge of addressing the issue of missing persons from conflict, human rights abuses, disasters, organized crime, migration and other causes,” said ICMP Director-General Kathryne Bomberger.

The Framework Agreement stipulates that…

Srebrenica Mayor Visits ICMP

3 April 2015: Srebrenica Mayor Camil Durakovic and ICMP Director-General Kathryne Bomberger met today at ICMP’s headquarters in Sarajevo. Mayor Durakovic briefed Director-General Bomberger on arrangements for the ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre on 11 July.

Director-General Bomberger noted that, since its inception in 1996, ICMP has been actively involved in the identification of the missing from Srebrenica; it played a key role in setting up the Potocari Memorial Center and it has worked continuously with families to help them find their loved ones and to ensure that they are able to assert their rights under the law.

Mayor Durakovic stressed the importance of the anniversary as a means of telling the truth of what took place at Srebrenica. He added that efforts must continue in order to ensure that the roughly 1,000 victims who are still missing from Srebrenica…

Maintain Public and Political Focus on the Effort to Find Those Who Are Still Missing

ICMP Director General Kathryne Bomberger

 

Oslobodjenje, 21 March 2015

Interview

You recently met with Mr. Mladen Ivanic, after which the public statement noted that you shared the view that we need to find a solution and speed up the stalled process of tracing and identifying the missing. Is this one of your regular meetings with members of the Presidency, or is there a special reason?

I met with Chairman of the Presidency Ivanic on 24 February to brief him on the progress that has been made by Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries in the region in addressing the issue of missing persons. Mr. Ivanic has on many occasions and in different capacities helped the process of accounting for the missing and I wanted to ask for his continued support for an effective, transparent and non-discriminatory effort and alert the Presidency to some of the pressing issues currently affecting this effort.

It…

Gender and the missing

Bojana Djokanovic examines the different ways in which gender perspectives of enforced disappearance have an impact on women.

When faced with the disappearance of a missing loved one, in addition to emotional pain and the psychological anguish of not knowing the fate of a missing relative, women have to deal with the social, economic, legal and familial implications of these disappearances – and deal with these issues in circumstances that are often highly discriminatory.

Article 2 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced

Disappearance (ICCPED) defines enforced disappearance as “…the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place…

Global Missing Persons Trends

ICMP’s Daily World News Digest  (link to http://www.icmp.int/category/daily-digest/) brings together news stories dealing with enforced disappearances and missing persons cases from around the world. It offers a snapshot of daily events and over a longer period it highlights key trends.

Missing Persons in Asia

In March, a series of stories appeared dealing with the significant missing persons problem in Asia, as a result of migration in many instances and, in many other instances, as a result of governments circumventing judicial process in the name of public security.

The Eurasiareview reported on 1 March (http://bit.ly/1FMSxqV) that as many as 36 million people may be victims of trafficking worldwide, and two-thirds of this number may be from Asia. The article noted that profits from worldwide forced labor and sex trafficking may be as high as $150 billion annually. A report in the Washington Post (http://wapo.st/1FuDPY1) on 16 March added further…

Searching for the Missing is a Responsibility of Governments

Town Hall Meeting in Sarajevo

During the month of March, ICMP organized roundtables in Tuzla, Mostar, and Sarajevo to discuss ways of implementing recommendations in the BiH Stocktaking Report. The report, published by ICMP in December, describes two decades of efforts to account for the missing and examines specific issues affecting communities in every part of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The roundtables brought together representatives of family associations and the authorities as well as academic and legal experts.

Key recommendations in the Stocktaking Report include:

  • Bosnia and Herzegovina must remain vigilant in accounting for the remaining 8,000 persons missing from the conflict by ensuring that its institutions, including the Missing Persons Institute and the BIH Prosecutor’s Office remain strong and engaged;
  • Bosnia must fully implement the Law on Missing Persons, which provides for the Central Records on Missing Persons (CEN), as well as for a Fund benefiting the families of the missing;
  • Bosnia should explore new approaches to locating gravesites,…