Preventing people from going missing

• We remind authorities about their obligations in clarifying the fate and whereabouts of missing People
• We promote the development, and support the adoption and implementation, of laws and regulations concerning missing people and their families
• We work in prisons to help ensure detainees have contact with relatives and are allowed family visits
• We work along migratory routes to explain how to prevent family separation
• We provide training to help ensure the proper and dignified management of the dead

Searching for the missing

Tracing efforts
• We persuade the authorities to fulfil their obligations to clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing persons, and help people get back in contact with their families
• We help people who have lost touch with their families stay in contact with them, working with 190 Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies worldwide
• We reunite people (particularly children) with their families

Respectful treatment of human remains
• We help authorities to follow steps to search for, recover, and identify human remains in a way that respects their dignity
• We support national forensic systems to clarify the fate of missing people and better respond to the needs of families

Supporting families 

Responding to specific needs
• We support and encourage authorities to better respond to the needs of the families of missing people
• We provide direct support to families of missing people, for example by helping them become financially stable or to navigate the legal system, as well as psychological and psychosocial support