ICMP today published Arabic and Kurdish translations of the report on the proceedings of a major international conference on the missing held in The Hague at the end of 2013. The Report, entitled “The Missing: An Agenda for the Future”, provides an overview of the issue of missing persons globally and highlights recommendations made by conference delegates. The conference, held between 29 October and 1 November 2013, was the first of its kind and brought together more than 200 prominent policymakers, human rights activists, scientists and others.

 “The publication of Arabic and Kurdish translations will extend the reach and usefulness of this document. It will be accessible to stakeholders in Iraq and elsewhere. This is crucial because the document lays out steps that communities and countries can take in order to begin addressing the global problem of missing persons in an effective way,” said…

Sarajevo, 17 November 2014 – The Embassy of Sweden today signed an agreement with the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) for ICMP’s Western Balkans program 2014-2016. The agreement is worth 1.9 million Euros over the next two years. Sweden has been a donor to ICMP since 2002 and has through the years contributed to the organization’s crucial role in the region with 3.5 million Euros.

“The work of ICMP in the Western Balkans is important for the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina in supporting legal, operational and institutional capacities to address the missing persons issue effectively,” said Marie Bergström, Counsellor at the Embassy of Sweden.

With its support for the Western Balkans, Sweden maintains its commitment to the cause of missing persons. In the 2014-2016 program ICMP will continue to provide assistance to countries in the region to account for the missing.

“This is a targeted and substantial contribution that will…

Sarajevo, 13 November 2014 – A new section of the ICMP website came on-line today, making available a massive volume of information on the issue of missing persons throughout the world. “The Missing” section examines the underlying forces – war, migration, organized crime, even climate change – that have turned the problem of missing persons into a major 21^st century challenge. It explores the nature and scale of the problem, examines legal, social and political interpretations of what constitutes a missing person, and reviews in detail developments related to missing persons in more than 60 countries.

“This new feature represents a significant expansion of the information provided on the ICMP website, and it also represents a major contribution to analyzing and understanding a pressing global challenge,” said ICMP Director-General Kathryne Bomberger. “Societies recovering from the trauma of conflict, for example, cannot make progress towards reconciliation and recovery as long as…

Two forensic experts from the Government of Chile have completed a three-day fact-finding visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, including meetings with staff at the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). The visit reflects the emergence of a global response to the global challenge of missing persons, in which ICMP is playing a leading role.

The Servicio Médico Legal (SML) is the lead agency in identifying several thousand people who went missing in Chile during the period of military rule from 1973 to 1990. The Chilean authorities have adopted a systematic and law-based approach to finding the missing and to addressing the social tensions created by past human rights violations.

ICMP has been cooperating with the SML since 2008, providing DNA testing of 2,432 reference blood samples and 194 post-mortem samples from missing persons, and offering technical advice on DNA matching.

The visit by SML forensic experts Macarena Arias and Jorge Pinares was…