Sarajevo, 17 March 2022 – On Tuesday in Sarajevo, family associations of missing persons from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing the Regional Coordination Network.

“This MoU reaffirms the commitment of the family associations to working together to secure truth, justice and reparations through a mechanism in which all families and all associations have equal rights and duties,” said Kathryne Bomberger, the Director-General of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP).

Director-General Bomberger described the agreement as “historic” and she said “Ensuring coordination of family associations from all across the region and enabling them to hold governments accountable to conduct credible investigations is key to ensuring that the remaining missing persons are accounted for.”

ICMP has spearheaded the regional effort that has made it possible to account for more than 70 percent of those who went missing during the conflicts of the 1990s,…

The Hague, 11 March 2022: The Policy Coordination Group (PCG), a Syrian-led initiative on the missing and disappeared facilitated by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), released a paper at an event this week on proposed legislation designed to support a process of finding missing persons from the Syria conflict¹. It is hoped that such legislation would be considered in the context of future deliberations on a political settlement.  The proposed legislation also addresses measures to secure the rights of victims and their families.

“The proposed law is a step forward in the process of ensuring that the rights of missing persons, survivors, and their families are safeguarded in a future Syria,” said the Head of ICMP’s Syria/MENA Program, Lena Alhusseini.

During its session this week, the PCG also discussed a draft paper on investigations related to mass graves in Syria. This paper proposes measures that would help to identify the…

Hagë: 4 mars 2022 – Këtë javë, një delegacion i përfaqësuesve të institucioneve të Kosovës që punojnë në çështjen e personave të zhdukur ka vizituar selinë e Komisionit Ndërkombëtar për Personat e Zhdukur (ICMP) për të diskutuar masat për zgjerimin e procesit të llogaridhënies së personave të zhdukur nga konflikti në Kosovë.

Delegacioni i Kosovës i përbërë nga përfaqësues të Ministrisë së Drejtësisë, Komisionit Qeveritar për Personat e Zhdukur dhe Institutit për Mjekësi Ligjore diskutoi bashkëpunimin në ndërmarrjen e një shqyrtimi të plotë të procesit teknik të zhvilluar në Kosovë gjatë dy dekadave të fundit, dhe forcimin e bashkëpunimit rajonal nëpërmjet Grupit të Personave të Zhdukur.

Kathryne Bomberger, Drejtore e Përgjithshme e ICMP-së theksoi rëndësinë e shqyrtimit të ardhshëm teknik të rasteve të paidentifikuara në morgun e Institutit për Mjekësi Ligjore të Kosovës (IML), si dhe rritjen e kapaciteteve të IML-së në lidhje me administrimin dhe analizimin e të dhënave mbi…

The Hague: 9 March 2022 – Last week, a delegation of representatives of Kosovo institutions that work on the issue of missing persons has visited the Headquarters of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) to discuss measures to enhance the process of accounting for missing persons from the Kosovo conflict.

The Kosovo delegation comprised of representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Government Commission on Missing Persons, and the Institute for Forensic Medicine discussed cooperation in undertaking a thorough review of the technical process conducted in Kosovo over the last two decades, and strengthening the regional cooperation through the Missing Persons Group.

Kathryne Bomberger, the Director-General of the ICMP emphasized the importance of the forthcoming technical review of unidentified cases in the Institute for Forensic Medicine of Kosovo (IFM) mortuary, as well as increasing the capacities of the IFM with regards to managing and analyzing data on missing persons cases.

“With…

7 March 2022 – Thousands of migrants go missing or die each year along migration routes. In 2018, United Nations Member States committed to “save lives and establish coordinated international efforts on missing migrants” by adopting the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). Four years and more than 15,000 documented deaths later, efforts to provide a meaningful response to this ongoing human tragedy cannot be put off any further.

As heads of the United Nations Network on Migration’s Executive Committee, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross, Red Crescent Societies and the International Commission on Missing Persons, we call on States to urgently assume collective responsibility to save lives and prevent migrants from going missing or dying along migration routes and to search for and identify those who have gone missing and to assist their families. This is in line with…