Protected persons: Missing persons

Both civilians and combatants go missing in armed conflicts. The fate of soldiers on the battlefield or in captivity may be unknown. Families may be separated by the conflict, suffering from the anguish of not knowing what has happened to their loved ones. Amid ongoing uncertainty, the families of the missing may be unable to grieve.

In armed conflict, international humanitarian law and human rights law require warring parties to take measures to ensure that people do not go missing. If they do go missing, the parties are required to take all possible measures to ensure their fate be uncovered and their families informed.

Measures can be taken during a conflict to prevent people going missing. If all combatants carried proper identity documents, for example, their fate can be recorded. All deaths should be registered and information should be kept on burials or the fate of human remains. Records must also be kept on people detained or arrested.

Regrettably, sufficient measures to prevent disappearances and provide vital information have not been taken in recent conflicts. The Balkans conflict was marred by mass executions and unmarked graves – about 20,000 people disappeared. In Sri Lanka, young men were simply rounded up and taken away. In Africa, tens of thousands of families fleeing conflict have been separated, with children often suffering the most. No continent has escaped the problem, and hundreds of thousands of people around the world have been affected. 

The pain caused by such events is personal, often hidden. But whole communities can suffer if breadwinners disappear and families are left to fend for themselves.

Until recently, this hidden tragedy did not attract sufficient attention from the international community. It was for this reason that the ICRC organized an international conference in 2003 to tackle the problem of missing people and seek ways to help the families and communities affected. Government officials, humanitarian and human rights organizations, components of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, other experts and, most importantly, missing family associations all attended. 

The conference reaffirmed the right to know the fate of missing people, a right already enshrined in international humanitarian and human rights law. It identified concrete measures that parties to a conflict should take to prevent disappearances, such as respecting and protecting civilians and properly managing information on people.

It identified the crucial role of forensics and the proper handling of human remains. It recognized the vital role of networks that restore family links in which the ICRC, the broader Movement and many family associations are involved.

Since then, the ICRC has continued its work. It participated in the drafting committee that led to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2006. The ICRC's president publicly welcomed the preventive framework put in place by the convention and its recognition of the importance of justice.