Malaysian government examines flawed mass graves investigation

The Malaysian government has begun an inquiry into the discovery and investigation of 139 mass graves and more than 12 human trafficking camps in the country in 2015. Several human rights groups claimed that one of the camps was destroyed a day after it was discovered, which hindered police investigations, Channel News Asia reports. A panel will examine the allegations that authorities mishandled the investigation. https://bit.ly/2GiF8PK

Mexico: clandestine grave found in Veracruz

According to El Universal, a clandestine grave has been found in a rural property in the center of Veracruz, in eastern Mexico. The paper says the location of 36 possible human remains has been confirmed, and exhumations will begin in the coming days (Original article in Spanish). https://bit.ly/2Gopcvv

Gambia: exhumations undertaken at mass grave from 1994 coup

The Journal du Cameroun reports that a team of forensic experts of the Gambia police,…

Mexico: a new approach to accounting for the missing

The Spanish news agency, EFE, carries a report on efforts to account for thousands of missing persons in the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon. The state’s attorney general, Gustavo Adolfo Guerrero Gutierrez, says a new initiative will fight “crime with intelligence, not bullets,” thanks to the assistance of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). Under a project launched in December last year and supported by USAID, ICMP is working with Citizens in Support of Human Rights (CADHAC), an NGO in Nuevo Leon, to support a process that brings domestic authorities together with families of the missing to build trust, facilitate information sharing, and sustain an effective effort to account for the missing. https://bit.ly/2UnxV5N

Additional Coverage in Spanish:

• https://bit.ly/2v5Dufc
• https://bit.ly/2Gd5h2h

Rwanda: Genocide victims exhumed from clandestine mass graves

The New Times from Rwanda reports that victims of the 1994…

Iraq: exhumation of mass grave in Sinjar

The remains of hundreds of Yezidis executed by Da’esh are believed to have been discovered at a mass grave in Kocho, Sinjar, Rudaw reports. The Iraqi government, the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and the United Nations are conducting an exhumation of the suspected mass grave sites. So far, 26 bodies have been recovered at the site in Kocho, although 500 victims’ remains are through to be buried there. http://bit.ly/2InQIfI

More than 3,000 Yezidis still missing

The Kurdistan Regional Government says more than 360,000 Yezidis are still living in displacement camps in the Dohuk Governorate. As many as 3,000 Yezidis are still missing since the liberation of the territory that was controlled by militants, Rudaw reports. https://bit.ly/2Iz21RD

Zimbabwe to excavate mass graves from the 1980s

The President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has promised an open discussion of “Gukurahundi”, the mass killings of those…

Nigeria: 112 Chibok girls still missing after five years

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari says the effort to find 112 girls kidnapped from the northeastern town of Chibok in 2014 will continue. PM News Nigeria reports that 107 of the girls have been rescued. https://bit.ly/2P7FPze

Iraq unearths mass grave of Kurds killed by Saddam’s regime

Iraqi President Barham Salih and the head of the UN Mission in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis, on Sunday attended the excavation of a mass grave containing dozens of victims near the city of Samawa, Reuters reports. It is believed that victims were among up to 180,000 people who may have been killed during Saddam Hussein’s “Anfal” campaign, which targeted Iraqi Kurds in the late 1980s. https://reut.rs/2Xgc7Lv

Mexico: remains of 39 missing persons found in mass graves in the past week

The Search Warriors of Sonora (Guerreras Buscadoras de Sonora) NGO has assisted in investigating 19 mass graves in the…

Syria: another mass grave discovered

A mass grave, believed to contain more than 20 sets of human remains of Da’esh victims, was discovered on Thursday in eastern Syria. The grave was found in the town of Mayadeen, eastern Deir ez-Zor province, according to ABNA 24. https://bit.ly/2VDhaoV

Canada: British Columbia has twice the national rate of missing people

Around 2,500 people have been reported missing in British Columbia in recent decades and have not been recovered. This is more than one third of the roughly 7,000 cases nationwide, The Star reports. British Columbia’s minister of public safety says he does not know what is behind the province’s missing persons problem and is waiting for the final report from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. https://bit.ly/2Ugrmlu

Recovery of missing persons in Pakistan

The Sindh High Court (SHC) in Karachi, Pakistan, has directed the relevant authorities to take concrete measures…

Mass graves in Sri Lanka

The Tamil Guardian reports that more than 100 victims of a disappearance in 1990 may be buried in a mass grave on the islet of Mandativu off the coast of Jaffna in the north of Sri Lanka. Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Sritharan informed Sri Lanka’s Office on Missing Persons (OMP) of this in a statement last week. Sritharan noted that hundreds of youths disappeared from the Jaffna area between August and September 1990, as the Sri Lankan military launched an offensive. https://bit.ly/2UOj48X

Enforced disappearances in Malaysia

The Malay Mail has published an article related to abductions that took place near Kuala Lumpur in 2016 and 2017. The article examines the nature and scale of enforced disappearance around the world and the steps being taken to address this issue. https://bit.ly/2UbWQt4

Zimbabwe: mass graves exhumation approved

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa says he will facilitate the exhumation and reburial of mass…

Ireland: forensic science helps solve historical missing persons cases

New forensic techniques have improved DNA extraction from bones, especially those recovered from water, allowing the Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) laboratory in Dublin to help solve five historical missing persons cases, The Journal.ie news portal reports. FSI has also worked with international colleagues to identify missing Irish citizens whose remains were discovered abroad. https://bit.ly/2UsUCuf

Gambia: mass graves excavation

Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) has initiated the excavation of alleged mass graves of soldiers executed during the abortive coup of 11 November 1994. No human remains have been found yet but the TRRC has announced that the excavation will continue, All Africa reports. https://bit.ly/2Ipi4Sb

Venezuela: 80 members of the Pemon tribe missing due to conflict

Venezuelan National Assembly Deputy Dennis Fernandez stated this week that 80 people of the Pemon tribe have gone missing due to the conflict in Venezuela, Noticiero…