The Hague, 25 February 2021 – A Syrian Policy Coordination Group (PCG) that will work to develop recommendations for a policy framework for a future missing person process in Syria, recently established with the support of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), held an introductory meeting today.

The group’s 25 Syrian members include families of the missing, legal experts, human rights defenders, members of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, and civil society representatives residing inside and outside Syria.  International experts offer support as advisors and subject matter experts. ICMP acts as both the secretariat and facilitator of the group’s work.  The goal of the PCG is to develop a strategic policy framework to influence the development of domestic, regional and international mechanisms to find the many Syrians who are missing, both within and outside of Syria.

In today’s online meeting, group members discussed previous policy discussions facilitated by ICMP, which are outlined…

Bogota, Colombia 23 February, 2021 – Colombian civil society organizations (CSOs) involved in the country’s efforts to find those who remain missing following the 50-year conflict have grown stronger, thanks to International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) grants funded by the European Union (EU).

Twenty-two organizations were awarded grants to intensify their efforts to involve families of the missing in the country’s efforts to account for missing persons. The organizations implemented 14 projects that engaged families in the missing persons process, including by supporting memorialization events and by collecting information and sharing it with the Search Unit for Persons Listed as Disappeared (UBPD), an EU-funded institution that is a central actor in Colombia’s missing person process.

The ICMP grants, worth a total of more than USD 400,000, also covered eight Data Partnership Agreements. Under such agreements, CSOs collect data from families of the missing to contribute to a central record of…

Baghdad, 18 February 2021 – Key Iraqi government entities involved in the process finding the large number of missing persons from the regime of Saddam Hussein to more recent Da’esh crimes will use a specialized data management system developed by the International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP).

ICMP will donate its Integrated Data Management System (iDMS), along with computers and servers, to help Iraq collect, process and share data, which is key to finding the over 250,000 to 1 million persons estimated to be missing by Iraqi authorities.

The donation will enable the government to take steps toward establishing a central record that includes information on all persons missing in Iraq and their families. Such records are needed in any sustainable process to find all missing persons regardless of their ethnic or religious background, their roles in conflicts or their political affiliation.

The donation will enable Iraq the Ministry of Health’s Medico-Legal…

12 February 2021 – At the end of the mourning period for 104 Yezidi victims who were buried last week, Alexander Hug, the head of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP)’s Iraq program, emphasized that Iraq’s efforts to account for all its missing persons must continue with urgency.

“I extend my deepest condolences to the families of the victims, and I offer my sympathies not only to them but to all of the many families in Iraq who are missing relatives from a legacy of conflict and human rights abuses, starting with the regime of Saddam Hussein and including Da’esh crimes,” Hug said. “It is essential that Iraqi authorities prioritize this issue and build a cogent strategy to find all missing persons and secure the rights of all survivors, who are primarily women. By doing so, Iraq will make a long-term investment in peace and stability.”

The mourning period for…

Tirana, 1 February 2021 – Nine Albanian associations of families of missing persons and civil society organizations will work to increase participation of civil society groups and missing persons’ families, especially women, in missing persons process, using grant money awarded by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) last week.

The grants, in total worth more than €77,000 and financed by the European Union, will also support projects that aim and to raise awareness about justice processes.

“In cases where persons are missing as a result of conflict or human rights abuses, ICMP works with survivor groups to rebuild trust between citizens and the state, and to support civil society’s participation in the creation of institutions, legislation and commemorative events and other forms of memorialization relevant to missing persons,” Matthew Holliday, Head of ICMP Western Balkans Program said at an online event held this week to kick off the projects. Addressing…