The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) passed a major milestone Wednesday, when it recorded 10,000 DNA matches for victims of the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. The 10,000th missing person to be identified using ICMP’s unique DNA-led system was a man missing from Prozor, in Central Bosnia, since 1993. The ICMP DNA match report, which indicates the identity of the man with a certainty of 99.99987 per cent, will be forwarded to the local court-appointed pathologist in Sarajevo, who will conduct an official post-mortem examination and make the final, legal identification. The remains will then be returned to the missing man’s family.

In order to facilitate the access to information, justice and guaranteed rights to the family members of the missing persons, as well as improve the understanding of the Law on Missing Persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its practical implementation, Guidebook for the families of the missing was created.

Representatives of the BiH Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) have today presented the Guidebook at the press conference in Sarajevo, attended by the representatives of the associations of the families of the missing.

The consignment of 110 body bags with mortal remains of Kosovo Albanians is the final one arriving from Belgrade to Kosovo. From the first repatriation from Serbia in November 2002, authorities of Serbia in 19 contingents return to Kosovo 729 identified persons. Some of mortal remains are not identified, and the DNA technology of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) will be applied in their cases. The ICMP’s DNA analysis was used in the process of identification of the mortal remains that Serbian authorities repatriated today to Kosovo.
These mortal remains have been exhumed from Batajnica and Perućac mass graves. ICMP anthropologists and archeologists assisted in the excavations in 2001 and 2002. With today’s consignment, all remains exhumed on Serbian proper, related to Kosovo conflict, have been repatriated to Kosovo where additional postmortem autopsy will be conducted by UNMIK before returning the bodies to families for burial. …

The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) marks its tenth anniversary today. During its first ten years, ICMP has developed a unique, comprehensive and effective system to address missing persons issues around the world, combining political experience with cutting edge scientific expertise and proficiency in building civil society structures.

To commemorate the ten-year anniversary, a special event was held in Washington D.C. on June 27th and was hosted by ICMP’s Commissioners, James Kimsey (ICMP Chairman and founder of AOL), Her Majesty Queen Noor, Michael Portillo (former UK Secretary of Defence), Willem Kok (former Prime Minister of The Netherlands) and Rolf Ekeus (OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities). ICMP began events to mark the anniversary in April, with a roundtable on mechanisms for pursuing justice and human rights in Bosnia-Herzegovina and will continue with conferences, meetings, exhibitions and receptions during the coming months.

The Commander of NATO in Bosnia and Herzegovina, US Brigadier General Louis Weber was moved today after visiting an exhumation site near Zvornik where the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) assists in excavations.
The site, Čančari 10, is a known secondary site previously identified by the International Crime Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 1998. ICMP experts performed geophysical analysis in August 2005 prior to its excavation. Resistivity testing revealed additional information on the grave.

During a visit to International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) facilities in Tuzla on Friday, the Commander of the European Union Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Major General Gian Marco Chiarini, said he was impressed by work of the organization.
General Chiarini visited ICMP’s Podrinje Identification Project, where forensic anthropologists and pathologists examine, store and make final identifications of mortal remains of thousands of missing persons, all of which are cases related to the fall of Srebrenica in 1995, finally returning the remains to their families.

During a visit to facilities of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in Tuzla, eastern Bosnia, today, Chairman of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Council of Ministers Adnan Terzic stressed that families had a right to know the truth about their missing loved ones.Mr. Terzic thanked family members for their patience and for their commitment to the process of resolving the fate of the missing. Without that commitment, he said, so much progress could not have been made.

The Director of the Political Affairs Department at the General Secretariat of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Zamel Saeedi, on Monday said he was impressed with the accomplishments of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) following a tour of ICMP facilities in Tuzla and Lukavac, in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Addressing the media at the end of his tour, Mr. Saeedi said that exhumations are being carried out in Iraq, but he would like to see them carried out according to ICMP standards and practices. This was the first visit of an Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) high official to ICMP facilities.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Agim Ceku, and Chief of Staff of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) Kathryne Bomberger met yesterday in Pristina to discuss the issue of the missing from the Kosovo conflict. During the meeting, Ms. Bomberger said that through the use of ICMP’s DNA-assisted identification process, ICMP estimated that at least 1,500 mortal remains are still unaccounted for from the conflict.

The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and the Government of Croatia have confirmed a further 33 DNA matches for persons missing as a result of the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990’s. The latest results were announced at a press conference in Sarajevo today by ICMP Chief of Staff Kathryne Bomberger and Croatian Assistant Minister for Family, Veteran’s Affairs and Intergenerational Solidarity Colonel Ivan Grujić.