Stockholm, 1 June 2017: Concrete and effective scientific, legal, political and social strategies can help governments and stakeholders to account for the hundreds of thousands of people who go missing as a result of conflict, disasters and other causes, Her Majesty Queen Noor said in Stockholm on Wednesday. Queen Noor was speaking at the opening of a “Profiles of the Missing” conference organized by the International Commission on Missing Persons and hosted by the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.

Queen Noor emphasized that implementing these strategies “is how we can most constructively honor and remember the missing and how we can secure the rights of those who have been left behind.”

Speakers from around the world shared their personal experiences, and explained the rights-based, rule-of-law approach that families of the missing have developed in order to ensure that authorities take all necessary…

Pristina, 28 April 2017: ICMP presented its third Kosovo Stocktaking Report this morning at a press conference in Pristina. The previous Stocktaking Reports were published in 2005 and 2010. The report provides a detailed account of progress in accounting for those who went missing during the conflict, together with recommendations on how more progress can be made.

In the 17 years since the end of the conflict, more than 6,000 cases of human remains have been recovered on the territory of Kosovo, and almost 900 on the territory of Serbia. Since 2002, more than 2,500 missing persons cases have been resolved through the use of effective forensic work, including DNA testing. Approximately 2,000 cases were identified by traditional methods, including visual identifications prior to 2002. Today, the number of missing persons is estimated to be over 1,600 persons.

Survivors and families of the missing…

The Hague, 7 April 2017: The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) welcomes the decree establishing the Search Unit for Missing Persons in Colombia which was signed by President Juan Manuel Santos in Bogota on Thursday. The Search Unit will be in charge of addressing the issue of missing persons from the 50 year armed conflict. The signing ceremony took place at the Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación in Bogota.

“The decision to establish the Search Unit as part of the peace process underscores the recognition of the importance of resolving the issue of missing persons as an opportunity to advance peace and reinstate the rule-of-law, and thus to enhance confidence in public institutions on a highly emblematic issue,” said Kathryne Bomberger, Director-General of ICMP. “The ICMP looks forward to working with the Government of Colombia in enhancing its institutional and legislative capacity…

The Hague, 21 March 2017: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo must take coordinated action to resolve cases of unidentified human remains from the conflict in former Yugoslavia, and systematically address the issue of mis-identifications that occurred prior to the use of DNA testing, Matthew Holliday, the Head of ICMP’s Western Balkans program said in Brussels today.

Mr. Holliday was speaking at a conference held at the European Parliament to review efforts to account for missing persons from the conflict in Croatia.

More than 6,000 persons went missing during the conflict in Croatia (1991-1995), of whom around 2,000 are still missing. ICMP has helped to identify more than 600 complex missing persons cases from the Croatia conflict through a joint project with the Croatian Directorate of Detained and Missing. An estimated 12,000 persons are still missing in the Western Balkans as a whole.

“ICMP’s…

The Hague, 8 March 2017: HRH the Prince of Wales invited representatives of families of the missing from Southeast Europe to meet with him at his home today. The meeting, facilitated by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), allowed family representatives to brief HRH on the progress that has been made in accounting for those who went missing as a result of the conflicts in former Yugoslavia, and to present the steps that must be taken in order to ensure that efforts to account for those who are still missing continue. Today’s meeting, at Clarence House in London, followed a presentation in Pristina by families of the missing during a tour of the countries of the former Yugoslavia by Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall in March 2016.

HRH noted that he had been impressed by…