Many women in Nepal whose husbands have gone missing, especially those from lower castes, face a life of poverty. With the loss of their husband comes the loss of their status in the community, their family belongings (which are taken back by their parents-in-law) and any prospect of a better future, as they can never remarry.

The ICRC often gives women whose husbands have disappeared legal help by issuing certificates which they can present in order to obtain welfare assistance or compensation. As is the case in Nepal, the ICRC publishes lists of missing persons in the hope of receiving new information. It also centralizes and circulates data collected on missing persons in order to facilitate the identification of mortal remains that have been found.