Training Programs

ICMP’s key program activities are implemented via training in the application of specific thematic competencies, including:

  • Institutional Development • Public Involvement – Civil Society Development • Technical Assistance

ICMP Training: Institutional Development

As part of its assistance in capacity building, ICMP provides training and education to the following groups:

  • Government representatives engaged in the missing persons process; • Family members of the missing and other civil society representatives; and • Prosecutors and court appointed experts.

ICMP Training: Public Involvement – Civil Society Development

ICMP encourages the active participation of civil society and in particular the families of the missing, through empowering education and training programs. The provision of education programs for families of the missing and their active engagement in the process is critical to addressing the issue of missing persons, whether as a result of conflict, disaster or other causes.

ICMP educates family members of the missing on their legal, social and economic rights.

Furthermore, the use of modern forensic methods to identify the missing requires the voluntary participation of relatives in the provision of reference samples to conduct kinship matching of post-mortem samples. Voluntary participation is facilitated by intensive education programs in the use of DNA in human identification efforts. This process also requires voluntary informed consent to provide personal information, including genetic information. ICMP maintains stringent data protection policies.

ICMP Training: Technical Assistance

ICMP helps governments to locate, recover and identify the missing. Its resources include one of the world’s leading high-throughput DNA laboratories for human identification and a customized database management system that can be utilized by partners around the globe.

ICMP’s repository of knowledge and expertise covering all the areas that are required to address the issue of missing persons in a comprehensive way has been channeled into education and training programs.

Technical Assistance Training Programs have been developed for:

  • Government representatives; • Prosecutors; • Court appointed officials; • Civil society actors; • Family associations; • Data management agents; and • Scientific practitioners.