Podgorica, 26 May 2018: Stakeholders in the missing persons process across the Western Balkans met in Podgorica from 23 May to 26 May 2018 to prepare for an upcoming summit in London that will address key challenges facing the region, including how to address the issue of the 12,000 persons who are still missing from the conflicts of the 1990s. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Republic of Croatia which, as a full member of the European Union, supports the Berlin Process.

On 9/10 July, the United Kingdom will host the 5^th Berlin Process Western Balkans Summit. Among other issues, the UK has indicated that making progress on the issue of…

The Hague, 9 May 2018: Mr Rüdiger Kȍnig, Director-General for Crisis Prevention, Stabilization, Peacebuilding and Humanitarian Assistance in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited the International Commission on Missing Persons today, together with Gräfin Verana von Roedern, Minister Counsellor at the German Embassy in The Netherlands.

ICMP Director-General Kathryne Bomberger briefed the visitors on key ICMP programs that are supported by Germany, and highlighted programs, such as ICMP’s Center for Excellence and Training (CET) and its Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) platform, for which ICMP is seeking international support. The CET and DVI platform are designed to operate as global resources to help countries implement effective strategies to account for missing persons.

Germany has supported ICMP’s program in the Western Balkans since 2001, making it possible to account for more than 70 percent of those who went missing during the conflicts of the…

Sarajevo 9 May 2018: The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) today submitted 13 new DNA match reports to the BIH Missing Persons Institute. The DNA profiles were processed at ICMP’s new laboratory system at its Headquarters in The Hague.

“ICMP completed its laboratory transition at the end of December 2017 and the new laboratory became fully operational in record time,” the Head of ICMP’s Western Balkans Program, Matthew Holliday, said today. “ICMP continues to provide uninterrupted access to DNA testing and matching of biological samples submitted by BIH authorities at no cost to BIH, as it has done since 2001. There has been no change to ICMP’s assistance to BIH since ICMP moved its headquarters to The Hague.”

ICMP became a treaty-based inter-governmental organization in 2014 and in line with the new Agreement on ICMP’s Status and Functions, it moved its headquarters to The Hague. ICMP’s headquarters include its DNA…

Baghdad, 2 May 2018: Addressing the issue of missing persons is central to consolidating peace in Iraq, the Head of the International Commission for Missing Persons’ (ICMP) Iraq Program, Lena Larsson, said today, adding that since a majority of those who have disappeared are male, a disproportionate number of surviving families of the missing are women who are in many cases single heads of household. “It is critical that their rights to justice, truth and reparations are secured as part of a broader process of ensuring peace and stability,” she said.

Ms Larsson was speaking in Baghdad at the conclusion of a conference on Missing Persons and the Impact on Women, Peace and Security. The conference was jointly organized by ICMP and the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and was intended to highlight the intersection between the issue of missing persons and…