The Coordination Mechanism, which brings together Georgian, South Ossetian and Russian participants, was established in 2010, with the support and technical expertise of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as an exclusively humanitarian platform.
In addition to reviewing the progress made since the last meeting of the Coordination Mechanism in March 2024, discussions were held on the need for further efforts to ascertain what happened to the 118 persons who remain missing in relation to the armed conflicts.
“The humanitarian dialogue between the participants, facilitated through the Coordination Mechanism, remains critical to providing answers to the suffering families of missing people,” stated Agnès Coutou, the ICRC Envoy on Missing Persons in the Caucasus, who presided over the meeting.
“Beyond dialogue, as we lay down the priorities of work under the 20th meeting of the mechanism, it is essential to establish greater engagement among the various organizations involved in the search and identification process, as well as to provide more efficient and sustainable support to the families of the missing people.”
As per international humanitarian law, families of missing people have the right to know what happened to their loved ones. Reliable information about missing people is necessary for clarifying their whereabouts.
For further information, please contact:
Maya Kardava, ICRC Tbilisi, tel.: +995 599 55 88 18
Marina Tedeti, ICRC Tskhinval/i, tel.: +7 929 809 8765
