Monthly Archives: September 2021

ICMP and Missing Persons Group Boost Regional Cooperation to Account for the Remaining Missing Persons

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Podgorica, 29 September 2021 – At a meeting in Podgorica this week the Missing Persons Group (MPG) agreed on a range of measures to reinvigorate regional cooperation to account for persons missing as a result of conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.

“Governments in the Western Balkans have managed to account for over 70 percent of the around 40,000 persons reported missing after the conflicts in the 1990s. The MPG, which gathers senior representatives of regional governments that are responsible for addressing missing persons issues, is key to accounting for more than 11,000 that remain missing,” said Matthew Holliday, the Head of ICMP’s Western Balkans Program. “Today the MPG agreed on measures that will increase the sustainability of the MPG, boost cooperation in the process of accounting for the missing as well as strengthen the engagement of families of the missing in its work”.

Out of the more than 11,000 remaining missing…

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OECD Designates ICMP as Fully ODA-Eligible

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The Hague, 16 September 2021 – On 31 August 2021, the 30 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) unanimously approved the inclusion of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in the list of multilateral organizations which can receive funding under Official Development Assistance (ODA) programs.

ODA is government aid designed to promote the economic growth of developing countries and may be provided bilaterally or channeled through the United Nations or other multilateral organizations approved by the DAC. Donors can now report their funding for ICMP, including funding for ICMP’s Headquarter-based Main Program, as ODA. Funding for ICMP, including its Main Program, will count towards donors’ overall targets for annual official government aid and will no longer be classified as being outside the donor’s overall ODA targets. ODA-eligibility removes a significant impediment to making ICMP’s Main Program, which includes specialized, centralized capabilities…

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Germany’s Support Enables ICMP To Implement Its Global Mandate

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The Hague, 16 September 2021 – The new German Ambassador to the Netherlands, H.E. Cyrill Nunn, visited the Headquarters of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in The Hague today.

Germany has been a long-time supporter of ICMP and in May this year Germany acceded to the Agreement on the Status and Functions of the ICMP, becoming the Treaty’s ninth State Party.

Speaking during his visit, Ambassador Nunn noted that “ICMP’s programs around the world, including those related to missing persons from the conflicts in Iraq and Syria, contribute to multilateral efforts to stabilize volatile countries and support peace-building.”

ICMP Director-General Kathryne Bomberger said Germany’s support for ICMP’s programs, at Headquarters and globally, has enabled the organization to implement its mandate effectively. “Germany has been a key partner in our work to ensure that States uphold their responsibility to locate all missing persons and investigate the circumstances of their disappearance regardless of…

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Prime Minister Kurti and ICMP Director-General Bomberger Discuss Process of Accounting for Missing from Kosovo Conflict

ICMP Director General Kathryne Bomberger and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti

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Pristina, Kosovo: 6 September 2021 – Kathryne Bomberger, the Director-General of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti met today in Pristina to discuss ways of expediting the process of accounting for more than 1,600 persons still missing from the Kosovo conflict.

Measures discussed include enhancing regional cooperation through the Missing Persons Group, and undertaking a thorough review of the technical process conducted in Kosovo over the last two decades.

Prime Minister Kurti thanked Mrs. Bomberger and her colleagues for their maximum commitment to the issue of enforced disappearances, an issue that is essential for the Government of the Republic of Kosovo and requires immediate address. He stressed the commitment of the Government to regulate the issue of pensions for the families of the missing.

Ms Bomberger noted that while the issue of missing persons had been a reserve power of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX)…

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Iraqi Authorities Conclude Strategic Meeting on Accounting for the Missing With Broad Consensus on the Way Forward

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The Hague, 1 September 2021 – Iraqi government institutions today concluded a three-day strategic meeting in The Hague titled, “Missing Persons in Iraq: The Way Forward”.  The meeting hosted by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), a treaty-based intergovernmental organization, included senior representatives from Iraqi and Kurdish ministries, foundations and parliament whose work is relevant to finding the missing.  The first day of the conference coincided with the International Day of the Disappeared.

“This meeting concluded with broad consensus on a five-year strategy that would result in enhancing Iraqi efforts to find all missing persons, regardless of their sectarian or national background and the timeframe or circumstances of their disappearance,” ICMP Director-General Kathryne Bomberger said today.

Hassan Al-Kaabi, who is the First Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament and who led the delegation, expressed his quest to secure adequate funding from the state budget for a comprehensive five-year strategy. “ICMP…

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