Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, will play host to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Europa League final from 25 to 29 May 2019. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will also be present at the fan festival while Baku stages the final of one of Europe’s most prestigious club competitions.

Through active participation, exhibition of videos and virtual reality, the football fans present will have the opportunity to know better the work of the humanitarian organization in support of people affected by conflict and situations of violence worldwide. The people attending the football final will get to witness a different ball game altogether by viewing videos of people who live with the consequences of conflict.

Among the many consequences of conflict, the plight of families who must deal with the ambiguous loss of their loved ones is a cause of great concern. Because of old and new conflicts and due to other situations of violence, hundreds of thousands of people are still missing in the world today – ones who have gone missing and those whose fate remains unknown.

Over 25,000 people continue to live in the hope of receiving news about over 4,500 loved ones who have gone missing in the 90s, as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Dealing with such uncertainty over the fate of loved ones for over 25 years has an overwhelming impact on the social and psychological well-being of those desperately waiting for answers.

“… and they disappeared, as if they never existed. Every knock at the door makes me hope that they are back.”

These are the words of a mother whose two sons went missing in 1992.

The ICRC supports relevant authorities in the region, to clarify the fate of missing persons with the main objective of allowing families to achieve closure one day. To achieve this, first and foremost, all existing information and biological reference samples from family members must be collected and preserved. This helps ensure that identification will be possible one day.

The ICRC also addresses the families’ multifaceted needs through various activities.

The ICRC is a neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence. The organization has been present in the region since 1992 in connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

For further information, please contact:

Ilaha Huseynova, ICRC Baku +99450 316 00 24