Missing Persons

This theme addresses the humanitarian and legal challenges surrounding missing persons in armed conflicts, focusing on clarifying their fate, providing support to families, and ensuring effective mechanisms for tracing and reparations.

The transmission of information by the ICRC’s Central Tracing Agency in international armed conflicts

February 29, 2024 11 mins read Access / Analysis / Communications / Detention / Social Protection / Special Themes / The Geneva Conventions at 75 Natalie Klein-Kelly, Karen Loehner & Jelena Milosevic Lepotic

Two years ago, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Central Tracing Agency activated ...

Left behind: reparations and assistance for families of missing and disappeared persons

June 2, 2022 9 mins read Analysis / Humanitarian Action / Law and Conflict Grażyna Baranowska

As people continue to go missing in all regions of the world, thousands of families are left behind. They do not know whether ...

Looking for answers: accounting for the separated, missing and dead in international armed conflicts

April 11, 2022 14 mins read Analysis / Humanitarian Action / Law and Conflict Helen Obregón Gieseken & Ximena Londoño

Armed conflicts affecting all regions of the world today continue to result in the separation of families and in people going missing and ...

Where are they? Three things the families of missing persons teach us about war and peace

May 6, 2021 13 mins read Analysis / Humanitarian Action Filipa Schmitz Guinote & Eva Svoboda

Protecting family links and helping to prevent and, whenever possible, resolve cases of missing persons requires action during armed conflict and other situations ...

GCIII Commentary: ICRC unveils first update in sixty years

June 18, 2020 10 mins read Analysis / GCIII Commentary / Generating Respect for IHL / ICRC Commentaries / Law and Conflict Jean-Marie Henckaerts

Taking prisoners in international armed conflicts has been a common practice for centuries. The Third ...

The Missing: What’s in this edition of the Review

July 2, 2019 7 mins read Humanitarian Action / Law and Conflict / Online publications / Religion / Special Protections Ellen Policinski

The International Review of the Red Cross launched an edition on The Missing earlier this ...

The importance of psychosocial support for families missing loved ones – Review edition launch

June 26, 2019 5 mins read Events and highlights / Humanitarian Action Ellen Policinski

On 29 March 2019, the International Review of the Red Cross edition on ‘The Missing’ was launched at the Galle Face Hotel in ...

Clarifying the fate of missing persons

September 15, 2016 14 mins read Events and highlights / Humanitarian Action / Law and Conflict Raphaël Dallaire Ferland

How does looking at prisons’ laundry receipts or funeral documents help finding those who have ...