Search continues for people missing in connection with the armed conflicts of 1990s and August 2008
The 18th meeting of the Coordination Mechanism seeking to clarify the fate and whereabouts of people missing in relation to the armed conflicts of the 1990s and August 2008 and their aftermath was held in Ergneti, Georgia, on 23 May 2023. The Coordination Mechanism, bringing together Georgian, South Ossetian and Russian participants, was established under the auspices and with the technical expertise of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 2010 as a purely humanitarian platform.
Besides presenting an update on the progress made since the last meeting of the Coordination Mechanism in September 2022, discussions emphasized the need to search for information to clarify what happened to those missing, including possible burial places, and the ongoing challenges related to the process.
"The dialogue within the Coordination Mechanism is strictly humanitarian. There is a common understanding of the need to make progress in the process of searching for 122 missing people. Greater engagement of the sides is essential in the search and identification as well as in supporting the families of missing people for the process to continue in a more efficient and sustainable way," said Carina Svenfelt, ICRC Coordinator on Missing Persons and their Families, who chaired the meeting.
According to international humanitarian law (IHL), families of missing people have the right to know what happened to their loved ones. Reliable information about missing people, including potential burial sites, is necessary for clarifying what happened to them. Any information received by the ICRC is treated with confidentiality and used for humanitarian purposes only.
For further information, please contact:
Sophio Elizbarashvili, ICRC Tbilisi: +995 599 50 14 64
Marina Tedeti, ICRC Tskhinval/i: +79298098765
