International Commission on Missing Persons

30 August 2021: On the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared, ICMP, with UK support, has published a Q&A topical guide for families of the missing in the Western Balkans. The guide Resolving the Missing Persons Issue in the Western Balkans is available in all languages of the Western Balkans countries in a reader-friendly format.

The guide explains practices and principles applied in the countries of the former Yugoslavia in their efforts to account for persons missing as a result of the 1990s conflict. It is the product of many years of first-hand experience on the part of ICMP staff, and intensive communication with families of the missing, scientists, scholars, researchers and professionals from domestic institutions.

The purpose of the Guide is to provide accurate information to families of the missing and the citizens. It details processes that involve numerous institutions in the fields of justice, internal and…

The Hague, 20 August 2021 – The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) today completed the first phase of a campaign to collect DNA samples from Syrian families living in Europe whose relatives have gone missing either in Syria as a result of the conflict, or along migration routes after fleeing the conflict.

From 29 July to 20 August, Syrian families in Germany and the Netherlands, who have missing relatives, were invited to provide genetic reference samples to assist in reuniting families and locating missing persons. The “Act in their Absence” campaign, supported by the German Federal Foreign Office and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, is one element in a long-term missing persons process that ICMP is helping to establish. The process will endeavor to account for missing persons from the Syria conflict who are still alive as well as those who are deceased.

ICMP is collecting information on missing…

The Hague, 11 July 2021: The truth about the Srebrenica Genocide of 1995 must be upheld; efforts to account for those who are still missing must continue; and perpetrators must be brought to justice, Kathryne Bomberger, Director-General of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), said today.

Speaking on the 26^th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide, Ms. Bomberger said: “Today, we stand together with 19 families who are burying their loved ones and with all those who are fighting for truth and justice . The effort to account for those who went missing at Srebrenica and throughout the former Yugoslavia is an essential element in reinstating the rule of law. Truth and justice are essential for lasting peace.”

In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces overran Srebrenica, killing around 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys and expelling women, children and elderly from the town. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the…

Bogotá, June 30, 2021 – Former combatants who are part of the FARC Search Commission for Missing Persons recently provided Colombia’s Search Unit for Missing Persons (UBPD) with information related to 15 cases of missing persons to assist the UBPD’s efforts. The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) supported the FARC Search Commission’s data collection work.

The cases are related to disappearances in Antioquia, Caquetá, Nariño, Meta and Arauca departments. ICMP’s support to the FARC Search Commission’s information gathering, and to similar efforts conducted by other civil society organizations, is part of a European Union-financed program that seeks to build capacity and enhance collaboration between authorities and civil society in the process of accounting for the missing.

Documentation of information such as the circumstances of disappearance and burial sites is key to efforts to account for the missing. Groups including the FARC Search Commission that collect and share information with authorities…

Baghdad, June 30 2021 – Representatives of the Federal Government of Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Yazidi community in Iraq discussed ongoing efforts to account for missing persons in Sinjar at a recent meeting coordinated by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP).

The 22 June meeting of the Committee for the Nineveh Governorate as stipulated by Article Six of the Law on Mass Grave Affairs (Sinjar Committee Six), held in Erbil, addressed the importance of increased coordination, information sharing, and planning between members for joint work on mass graves in Sinjar.

Article Six of the Iraqi Law on Mass Graves Affairs mandates the establishment of intergovernmental committees when mass graves are found in Iraq. Several such committees, comprising members chosen with consideration of the mass graves’ locations, exist in Iraq.

The Sinjar Committee Six also discussed ways to communicate with the media and the return of remains in accordance…

Sarajevo 23 June 2021 – The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina (MPI) will further strengthen their cooperation to account for missing persons, under an agreement that was signed today in Sarajevo.

“The agreement strengthens our cooperation with the aim to account for as many missing persons as possible in line with rule of law, in order to uphold the rights of all families of the missing to truth and justice,” said Matthew Holliday, the Head of ICMP’s Western Balkans Program. “Bosnia and Herzegovina’s authorities, assisted by ICMP, have so far accounted for 75 percent of the 30,000 persons reported missing as a consequence of the 1990s conflict. The agreement will enable us to reinforce our efforts to the 7,000 persons still missing.”

The agreement, which is prescribed by Article 12 of the Agreement on Assuming the Role of Co-founders of the…