Canada using DNA to identify migrant nationality

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) immigration officials are using DNA testing and ancestry websites to try to establish the nationality of migrants being held as “long-term detainees”, the CBSA said on Friday. Reuters reports that this practice is an effort to avoid indefinite incarceration of non-citizens and CBSA has clarified that the agency obtains consent from clients before submitting their information to DNA websites. https://reut.rs/2OnkMbn

Srebrenica: responsibility and justice

In its obituary of Hatidza Mehmedovic, the Srebrenica campaigner who died of cancer on 22 July, the New York Times notes that Mrs. Mehmedovic spoke out against growing nationalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We can’t let those who killed become the same as those who were killed,” she said in a recent TV interview. “I should not be the only one who is afraid of a future in which we don’t know who was the…

Syrian government confirms deaths of 161 disappeared

Responding to reports that the Syrian government has confirmed the deaths of at least 161 victims of enforced disappearance since the start of the conflict in 2011, Amnesty International has called on the government to return the remains to their families and explain the circumstances of the forced disappearance and deaths of their loved ones. https://bit.ly/2LSESbG

Fate of hundreds of Gulf War missing still unknown

Despite Iraq’s effort to find the fate of 609 Kuwaiti citizens and 1,022 Iraqis who disappeared during the first Gulf War in 1991, the fate of many is still unknown, Aljazeera reports. The Iraqi Government has offered financial rewards to anyone who can help locate human remains, but only 236 Kuwaitis reported missing have been recovered from mass graves (original article in Arabic). https://bit.ly/2v6Kx6U

Many Syrian prisoners are registered as deceased

In recent weeks, Syrian officials have started updating records of…

UN welcomes plan to account for missing persons from Spanish Civil War

UN News reports that a group of UN human rights experts has welcomed the new Spanish Government’s plan to establish a Truth Commission to investigate violations that occurred during the civil war and the Franco dictatorship. The Government has announced a series of initiatives to revise the Historical Memory Law, which would make it possible to create a new commission and a Directorate General for Historical Memory, which, among other things, will plan the search for missing people, publicize exhumation details and maintain an official list of victims. https://bit.ly/2LrvsI8

Laos: Hundreds missing after dam collapse

Following the collapse of a hydroelectric dam in southern Laos, TIME magazine reports on rescue efforts, including the search for hundreds of people who are still missing. https://ti.me/2OgWYpr

Egypt: US releases aid despite human rights concerns

PBS News Hour reports that the US, citing security…

Pakistan: journalists threatened with disappearance

The Diplomat news portal carries a report about what it says is intimidation of the media in Pakistan. Pakistan ranks 139^th out of 180 countries in the latest Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index. The Diplomat cites censorship during anti-government, anti-military protests by groups that have accused the army of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, and other human rights violations. https://bit.ly/2JUan3c

Myanmar: authorities accused of destroying evidence of crimes

The Straits Times reports that international diplomats and organizations have expressed concern that the country is incapable and unwilling to implement recommendations on human rights measures, amid accusations that the authorities are trying to destroy evidence of crimes against the Rohingya by bulldozing mass graves. https://bit.ly/2LkAy98

Turkman families “do not report their female missing persons.”

As many as 1,500 Turkman women and men were abducted by Da’esh during their occupation of Telafar, west of Mosul. Few have been freed and the…

US: Border Control missing migrants program

KVEO.com from Texas reports on efforts by the US Border Patrol to help migrants who become lost on the trek through the Rio Grande Valley. The Border Patrol is implementing a new program that it says will combat smuggling and migrant deaths and enable missing migrants to call for help using new emergency markers. https://bit.ly/2OafBLL

Mexico: mass graves in Tijuana

The Zocalo news portal from Mexico reports on the work of a forensic medical team in Tijuana, on the US-Mexico border, which has had to process more than 300 sets of human remains every month this year, largely recovered from four different mass graves (article in Spanish). https://bit.ly/2zYW1PH

Chad: impunity for enforced disappearance

Amnesty International has published a report listing concerns about what it says is the increasing use of repressive laws and the intelligence service in Chad. Among other things, the report highlights impunity for…

Death of Hatidza Mehmedovic of the Mothers of Srebrenica

Hatidza Mehmedovic, a vocal activist seeking justice for victims of the Srebrenica massacre, died in Sarajevo on Sunday the Anadolu news agency reports. She was 66. The head of Mothers of Srebrenica Association was receiving treatment for cancer. After losing her husband and two sons in the massacre, Mehmedovic dedicated her life to raising awareness about the massacre and became a symbol of resistance. https://bit.ly/2mAC8Vp

Pakistan: judicial activism and enforced disappearances

The Daily Times from Pakistan has published an in-depth article on the judicial environment in which Pakistan is seeking to resolve the 4,608 cases of enforced disappearance reported to the authorities between 2011 and 2017. The article notes that Pakistan has not ratified the International Convention on the Prevention of Enforced Disappearance or enacted legislation to criminalize acts or omissions associated with enforced disappearances. https://bit.ly/2OciETB

Nepal: new law on enforced disappearance

The…