Kuwait proposes a UN resolution on missing persons

Kuwait has begun its presidency of the UN Security Council with the aim of securing a UN resolution to find missing people and protect civilians in armed conflict, The National newspaper from UAE reports. The 15-member Council has already discussed proposals, and a draft resolution is expected this week, asking all 193 UN members to cooperate and follow legally binding procedures to find those missing in war.  https://bit.ly/2ET0yCZ

Spain: exhumation of General Franco delayed

Days before the scheduled exhumation of the human remains of former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, the Supreme Court has ordered the government to suspend its reburial plan to give relatives more time to pursue an appeal, The New York Times reports. The case has touched on key issues of individual rights and collective memorialization. https://nyti.ms/2WbQk6N

Libya: aid group urges evacuation of migrants

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has called for…

Amnesty and post-conflict justice in Zimbabwe

The Pan-African news portal African Arguments carries a story examining Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s call for an open debate about the Gukurahundi massacres of the 1980s. From 1983 to 1987, security forces targeted thousands with torture, detention and summary execution in parts of the country that were deemed to be opposition strongholds. Months after the government and opposition signed a peace accord in December 1987 an amnesty was announced. https://bit.ly/2Xpk55h

Support for families of the missing in Nepal

The Khabarhub news portal from Nepal reports that Minister for Finance Yubaraj Khatiwada has announced increased financial benefits for families of victims of enforced disappearance in the budget for fiscal year 2019-20. More than 10,000 people died in the 1996-2006 civil war in Nepal and more than 1,300 were reported as missing. https://bit.ly/2QLhW1f

Mexico: Hidalgo appoints advisors on missing persons
The Mexican newspaper Milenio reports that the State…

Canada: killings and disappearances of Indigenous women

The New York Times reports that 1,181 Indigenous women were killed or disappeared in Canada between 1980 and 2012, prompting calls for a new approach to criminal investigations in Indigenous communities. https://nyti.ms/2WhC417

Iraq: 27 bodies found in mass graves

The website AntiWar reports that 27 bodies have been found in mass graves 60 kilometres south of  Mosul in Iraq. The victims are believed to have been victims of Da’esh. https://bit.ly/2wBq7UA

Colombia: families urge government to take action on missing persons

RCN Radio from Colombia reports that 10,000 of around 80,000 missing persons cases in the country have been resolved, and says families of the missing are urging the authorities to take more action to address the issue of missing persons (Original article in Spanish). https://bit.ly/2QK5sHq

Syria: 395 cases of arbitrary arrest in May

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) says there have been at least…

Venezuela: migrants disappear after shipwreck

The Trinidad and Tobago Guardian reports that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the UN have expressed concern over the disappearance of Venezuelan migrants who were trying to reach Trinidad and Tobago. The IACHR has called for a search and rescue mission, noting that the two countries must undertake an investigation to locate and identify the missing. https://bit.ly/2EWjRM3

Kenya: extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances

The Star newspaper from Kenya reports that there have been 47 extrajudicial killings and 18 forced disappearances in the country’s coastal province of Kwale, noting that investigations into these cases have not been successful. https://bit.ly/2W26oYL

Zimbabwe: 7 detained after rights meeting

Human Rights Watch reports that Zimbabwe state security agents have arrested seven members of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights at the Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare. The activists were returning from a workshop in the Maldives hosted by the…

Three more victims of Srebrenica genocide identified

Anadolu Agency reports on new identifications of victims of the Srebrenica genocide, following exhumations from mass graves in Liplje and Kamenica near Zvornik in eastern Bosnia. The identifications were made through DNA analysis, with the assistance of the International Commission on Missing persons (ICMP). (Original article in BCS). https://bit.ly/2KcsSUn

Iraq: Identification of human remains from Sinjar

Shaafaq News reports that, following the excavation of 10 mass graves in Sinjar in northern Iraq, 138 bodies have been sent to the Medico-Legal Department in Baghdad for examination and identification. The report notes that exhumations at the remaining mass graves in Sinjar will resume after Ramadan Eid (Original article in Arabic). https://bit.ly/2wrhuw1

Pakistan urged to investigate North Waziristan deaths

Human Rights Watch has urged the authorities in Pakistan to investigate the deaths of at least three people during violent protests in North Waziristan on 26 May. Demonstrators were protesting…

Yezidi family reunited

The BBC reports on the members of a Yezidi family held in captivity by Da’esh, who have finally been reunited five years after their abduction. Hundreds have been freed since the collapse of the so-called Islamic State (IS). “Few were brutalized more by IS than Yezidis, a religious minority who were captured and enslaved when IS swept through their homeland in Sinjar, northern Iraq. But some, like Nashaat, survived. After four years separated from his mother Fawzia, they’re about to be reunited.” https://bbc.in/2XcpgFL

Kuwait: missing persons from the Gulf War

The mortal remains of some 369 Kuwaitis abducted by Saddam Hussein’s forces during the Gulf War are still missing, Aljazeera reports. Families believe that officials of the former Iraqi regime continue to deny crimes so that they cannot be held accountable. https://bit.ly/2EDNKjN

 Mexico: 481 missing persons in the last 100 days

The Head of the National Search Commission…

Syria: Smuggled documents reveal war crimes

CNN reports that 800,000 documents have been smuggled out of Syria by a group of investigators, revealing war crimes including the torture and killing of detainees, allegedly carried out by the Assad regime. The investigators have become known as the “document hunters”. https://cnn.it/2YRmm9G

Serbia urged to reveal locations of mass graves

The family of three Albanian-American brothers killed in Serbia have urged Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to pressure Vlastimir Djordjevic, a former police official convicted of Kosovo war crimes, to reveal the location of mass graves, Balkan Insight reports. Djordjevic was jailed for 18 years by the Hague Tribunal for war crimes in Kosovo and could be due for early release on 17 June after serving two-thirds of his sentence. https://bit.ly/30PhtzF

Memorial for genocide victims in northern Iraq

Kurdistan 24 reports that the Mayor of Sinjar in northern Iraq has asked the Kurdistan Regional Government…

Bangladesh: long wait for families of the disappeared

Aljazeera reports on a demonstration by family members in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, remembering loved ones who have disappeared. The Odhikar human rights group has documented 505 enforced disappearances between 2009 and 2018. https://bit.ly/2I9E55N

Mexico: police officers kidnapped

Two police officers from the Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Jalisco who were assigned to missing persons cases have been kidnapped while inspecting a private ranch. The Prosecutors Office says federal and state agencies are trying to locate the officers, the newspaper El Universal reports. The article says the State of Jalisco has more than 7,000 missing persons (Original article in Spanish). https://bit.ly/2EyY38Y

Pakistan: Three killed at protest against enforced disappearances

Aljazeera reports that at least three people were killed and more than 15 wounded in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan on Sunday in protests against enforced disappearances. The protests were led by…

Calls for tribunal to prosecute Da’esh members

The Netherlands called on Thursday for the establishment of a tribunal to prosecute members of Da’esh, the Associated Press reports. The proposal was made at a UN Security Council meeting on the protection of civilians in conflict and the need for accountability and an end to impunity for violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws. Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said the Netherlands will organize a ministerial meeting on the prosecution of Da’esh fighters. https://bit.ly/2QkgJhn

El Salvador suspends controversial amnesty bill

Reuters reports that lawmakers in El Salvador agreed on Thursday to suspend a controversial amnesty bill following an outcry from victims’ families, the United Nations and rights groups who said it aimed to whitewash crimes committed during a bloody civil war. A new proposal could be ready for a vote by Wednesday. The amnesty bill aimed to prohibit jail time for former…

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Mass funeral for ‘Koricanske Stijene’ massacre victims to take place in July

Balkan Insight reports that human remains exhumed from the mass graves of the 1992 Koricanske Stijene massacre of more than 200 Bosniak and Croat men will be buried in July. The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) has assisted with the excavations and with DNA matching, enabling the reliable identification of 179 victims so far. https://bit.ly/2X4PkCA

Syria: 670 bodies exhumed from mass graves

Middle East Monitor reports that 670 sets of human remains have been exhumed from a mass grave in the northern city of Raqqa in Syria. The report notes that the exhumations are from the first row of the gravesite and that there are plans to excavate several more rows. https://bit.ly/2VYTJu8

UNITAD submits report on mass graves in Iraq to the UN Security Council

The UN Office in Iraq says UNITAD has reported to the UN Security…