17 June 2006: 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.
General Chiarini also visited ICMP’s Identification Coordination Division (ICD), the center where collection teams bring together blood samples from family members to obtain DNA profiles. The ICD also maintains ICMP’s Forensic Database Management System and DNA Matching Software that is used to match DNA extracted from the blood samples of family members of the missing and DNA profiles from bone samples exhumed from grave sites.
All blood and bone samples received are bar coded at ICD prior to examination in order to preserve the confidentiality of each case.
“People do not realize how much work is involved in resolving the fate of the missing – nor how complicated that work is,” General Chiarini said after his visit. “I have been impressed today by the dedication and the professionalism of the ICMP staff,” he added.