UK: Facial recognition & missing persons

The Daily Telegraph reports that police in Britain are preparing to use facial recognition technology to help find thousands of missing persons. Technology will use CCTV cameras to scan the faces of members of the public and match them against a database in real time. According to data received from National Crime Agency, around 180,000 people including 200 children are reported missing every year. https://bit.ly/2Gf6K9l

Philippines: definition of extrajudicial killing

The Philippines Star reports on a legislative initiative to define extrajudicial killing. It says bill has been brought before Congress that seeks to define extrajudicial killing as “the unlawful, and deliberate killing of targeted individuals or groups thereof, carried out by agents of the State and under its order of acquiescence in lieu of arrest, investigation and prosecution,” and will include “summary killing perpetrated by private individuals for purposes of carrying out on their own…

European Disaster Victim Identification center

A new European approach to large-scale identification processes must be developed, the author of an opinion piece carried on the website of Dutch national broadcaster BNNVARA writes on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the MH17 attack, which killed 296 passengers and crew on a Malaysian Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The author recommends the establishment of a European disaster identification center that can work with the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) “as its expertise, infrastructure, authority, experience and forensic capacity are centrally organized” (Orginal article in Dutch) https://bit.ly/32x9yrV

Iraq: UNITAD makes progress

The Head of the UN team investigating Da’esh crimes in Iraq (UNITAD), Karim Khan, has told the UN Security Council that UNITAD is making tangible progress in acquiring digital, documentary, testimonial and forensic evidences to prosecute Da’esh members who committed atrocities in three initial areas which are…

Syria: more than 300 human remains in Raqqa mass grave

AFP reports that 313 sets of human remains have been exhumed from a mass grave that was discovered near the northern city of Raqqa in June. The victims, who are believed to have been killed by Da’esh, include women and children. https://bit.ly/2Y4qVRu

UN urged to respond to Philippines “war on drugs”

The ABS-CBN news network from the Philippines reports that the iDefend group (In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement) claims that tens of thousands have died in the Philippines “war on drugs” since the start of the Duterte administration in July 2016. The group has called on the government to exert all means to prevent extrajudicial killings. https://bit.ly/2M0cSpH

Pakistan: missing persons groups at risk

The Wire reports that more than 100 members of Pakistani civil society have released a statement citing “colossal crises” in the country as a result of…

Syria: detainee death notices

The Enab Baladi news portal reports on enforced disappearances in Syria, noting that, although official death notices of large numbers of detainees in Syrian prisons have been issued, “the bodies were not delivered to their parents, nor were they provided with the locations of their burial sites.” The report says lists of persons killed in detention centers have been sent to the Civil Registry, which then issues a death certificate. It says this “stands in the way of victims’ families in taking any legal action to determine the cause of death, its location, or even to claim the victim’s body.” https://bit.ly/2xOB4D0

Identification of MH17 victims

The Dutch TV news network, 1V, reports on the work of the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) to identify victims of the July 2014 downing of a Malaysian airliner, MH17, in Ukraine. It says NFI hopes to make a breakthrough in identifying…

Srebrenica: identifying the victims of genocide

The Herald newspaper from Scotland carries a story about this week’s anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, following the experience of Scottish musicians who recently visited Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they visited a human identification facility established by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). The article highlights the work of ICMP Forensic Anthropologist Dragana Vucetic and others who are working to ensure that victims are identified and that the truth of what happened in Srebrenica continues to be told. https://bit.ly/2G9RTNj

Srebrenica: A transparent and truthful account is essential for peace  

TV1 news from Bosnia and Herzegovina carries a statement by ICMP Director-General Kathryne Bomberger on the 24^th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide. “It is essential to continue efforts to account for those who are still missing and to bring those who were responsible to justice. A historical record based on scientific fact reduces the…

Srebrenica: anniversary of genocide

N1 reports on preparations for the burial today of 33 newly identified victims of the genocide in Srebrenica. Thousands of people will gather at the Memorial Center in Potočari, outside Srebrenica, to honor the 6,610 victims already buried there. More than 1,000 victims are still missing. 6,610 victims are buried at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Centre, 26 are women. https://bit.ly/2LgJRGq

Valentin Inzko in Srebrenica

The Oslobodjenje newspaper reports that the international community’s High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Valentin Inzko, speaking in Srebrenica, said that denying genocide is absurd. He said a law prohibiting genocide denial will be enacted before the next Srebrenica anniversary. (original article in Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian). https://bit.ly/2LMt7q5

Lars Gunnar Wigemark on Srebrenica

Oslobodjenje reports that the Head of the European Union’s Delegation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, speaking in Srebrenica, said the European Union is based on recognition of the Holocaust and the obligation…

Srebrenica mothers appeal for more information on those stuill missing 

On the 24th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide, the association of mothers of victims has appealed for information on mass graves where those who are still missing may be buried, the N1 news channel from Bosnia and Herzegovina reports. Around 8,000 men and boys were murdered in Srebrenica in July 1995. https://bit.ly/2S4zu9n 

Search for missing persons in Colombia 

The Bogota Post reports on the activities of Colombia’s Unit for the Search of Disappeared Persons (UPBD) which was created as part of the 2016 peace accord.  It says UPBD officials have arrived in 10 cities, where teams of forensic scientists will begin gathering information from victims’ families and local municipalities to plan possible exhumations. https://bit.ly/2xDZIpE 

Yemen: enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention