ICMP’s operations in Europe began with its work in the Western Balkans immediately after the signing of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement. Since then, ICMP has assisted Cyprus, Albania, Norway, Ukraine and countries in the Caucasus. ICMP has also provided forensic analysis to police investigations in Greece and Germany.
In this section
Albania
More than 20 years after the fall of the communist regime in Albania, the exact number of persons who went missing between 1945 and 1991 remains unclear, though the figure is believed to be in the region of 6,000. The Albanian authorities have adopted more than 24 legislative acts since 1991 addressing the issue of […]
Cyprus
The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) was established in 1981 by an agreement between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities with the backing of the United Nations (UN), to determine the fate of persons reported missing in inter-communal fighting in the 1960s, and as a result of the events of 1974. A […]
Denmark
In June 2009, ICMP signed an agreement with the Department of Forensic Medicine of Copenhagen University’s Faculty of Health Sciences, on Enhancing Capacities to Identify Persons Missing as a Result of Disasters, Acts of Terrorism or Unknown Causes. The arrangement complements the country’s existing disaster-management capacity.
Greece
In its areas of technical and scientific expertise ICMP may lend its good offices to public authorities and organizations to assist them in discharging functions that are not directly related to missing persons investigations. In Greece, responding to a request from the DNA Analysis Laboratory of the Athens Department of Legal Medicine, ICMP carried out […]
Norway
The German invasion of Norway in 1940 met substantial resistance but there was also support among segments of the public. About 15,000 Norwegians volunteered for combat duty with the Wehrmacht, and 6,000 saw action as part of SS operations. In September 2008, as part of a renewed effort to confront this controversial chapter of the […]
Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, escalating an armed conflict that began in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and pro-Russian separatists took control of eastern parts of the country. In early April 2022, mass graves were discovered in Bucha and other areas around Kyiv and there are reports of similar atrocities across Ukraine. Thousands […]
Western Balkans
In the Western Balkans ICMP has supported regional cooperation in the search for the missing; it has worked effectively to foster the development and cooperation of civil society organizations with one another and with governments and local authorities in the region. It has pioneered the application of state-of-the-art DNA and advanced database informatics to locate and […]