The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) welcomes the decision by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina to nominate members to the Steering Board of the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina (MPI).With the Steering and Supervisory Boards in place, the MPI will become operational. Beginning in 2007, the MPI will be the sole BiH institution tasked with accounting for the approximately 13,000 persons still missing from the conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina. MPI will search for the missing regardless of their national, ethnic or religious origin.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) organized the second meeting on regional cooperation on missing persons between representatives of the governments from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Serbia. The meeting provided a forum for multilateral discussions and an exchange of information regarding a variety of issues including recovery and identification operations, funding issues and support to family associations representing missing persons from the conflicts.

At a meeting today chaired by the BiH Council of Ministers, Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees, the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) joined the family associations of missing persons and the acting Directors of the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina (MPI) in making an urgent appeal to the Council of Ministers to appoint the Steering and Supervisory Boards of the MPI at the next government session, thus ensuring that the MPI would be functional before the end of this year.

The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) assisted in the excavation of 62 potential victims from the conflicts in the regions of the former Yugoslavia. The bodies were originally found in the Danube and Sava rivers after floating down from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia during the conflicts in early nineties and were buried as unidentified in Belgrade cemeteries.The exhumations, which took place at the Nova Bežanija and Orlovača cemeteries in Belgrade, started on 21 November under the supervision of the Serbian government's Commission on Missing Persons, with the additional presence of representatives from the government commissions on missing persons from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia.

Fifteen years after the outbreak of conflicts in the former Yugoslavia family members of missing persons from all sides are united in their appeal to Governments to deliver answers about the fate of their missing relatives. They announced their recommendations at the close of the three-day Ninth Regional Networking Conference on the missing persons issue organized by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in Brčko.This and previous regional conferences provide a much-needed opportunity for participants to exchange experiences, identify common problems, and to jointly define priorities in order to speed up the process of tracing for missing persons. More than 60 representatives of associations of families of missing persons and relevant government institutions from the Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and UN-Administered Kosovo, as well as ICMP and ICRC representatives discussed three critical themes – improving the process of exhumations, identifications, and rights of…

Representatives of governments from the former Yugoslavia and representatives of families of missing persons gathered at conference organized by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in Brčko today. The conference is forum for families to ask government representatives questions regarding the process of exhumations, identifications and rights of surviving family members of the missing. Members of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency opened the conference and visited a recently opened mass grave in Brčko where ICMP forensic anthropologists and archeologists are providing assistance to local expert teams.

The German Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Michael Schmunk visited the newly discovered mass grave site in Gorice near Brčko, northern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on Thursday. The Director General of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), Ms. Kathryne Bomberger accompanied the Ambassador on his visit where ICMP forensic anthropologists and archeologists are providing assistance to local expert teams.
The mass grave site in Gorice is alleged to contain the remains of individuals who went missing in the Brcko area in 1992. However, a positive link will only be established following DNA analysis which will be undertaken by ICMP. ICMP uses scientific technology as tool to address one of the biggest human rights issues facing BiH today. ICMP introduced DNA as primary tool in missing persons identification in this region, demonstrating success on massive scale.

The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in coordination with representatives of associations of families of missing persons from the territory of the former Yugoslavia are organizing the Ninth Regional Networking Conference from 23 to 25 November 2006 in Brcko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This event is an annual opportunity for all groups involved in tracing for missing persons to share experiences and to discuss ways of improving the process in the future. Main themes to be discussed will be exhumations, identifications and rights of surviving family members of the missing.

Representatives of the Republika Srpska (RS) Family Associations of missing persons learned first hand about DNA testing by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in the process of identification of exhumed mortal remains of missing persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ICMP invited 17 members of the RS Republican Organization and Republican Board of families of detained and killed soldiers and missing civilians to visit its Identification Coordination Division (ICD) in Tuzla on Friday.

Representatives of associations of missing persons expressed satisfaction today to have the opportunity to initiative dialogue in communities with serious violations of human rights. More than 50 members of associations of missing persons participated at the conference in Prijedor aimed at models of confronting the past and building foundation for the future. The conference was organized by Association Izvor, with the support of International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP).