When people disappear in connection with armed conflict or other violence, their families endure terrible suffering as they struggle to find out what happened. The plight of people who have disappeared — and the suffering of their families, all too often ignored — has been a constant concern of the ICRC. More needs to be done to help the families of missing persons.

In this video, we speak to Jean-Paul Corboz, an ICRC expert on the missing, about the work done by the organization to help the families of people who go missing in conflicts and disasters, and document the case of ICRC employee Ljiljana Tara, whose father’s remains were found by the ICRC’s Central Tracing Agency 17 years after he was killed in the Croatian War of 1991.

The ICRC is currently attempting to establish the fate and whereabouts of more than 52,000 people. Besides working directly with the families of missing persons, the ICRC plays an important role in bringing the issue of the missing onto the public agenda. It urges the authorities to take action aimed at responding to the needs of the families and encourages the search for their missing loved ones.

For more information on the Missing, click here.

ICRC New Delhi