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INTERNATIONAL DAY OF DISSAPEARED MARKED TODAY
A1+
| 12:23:04 | 30-08-2005 | Politics |
Today, on the International Day of the Disappeared, the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) calls for renewed attention to one
of the most serious humanitarian problems caused by armed conflict -
the fate of missing persons and the suffering of their families.
Today, hundreds of thousands of families around the world remain
without any news of their relatives who went missing in situations
of armed conflict or internal violence. Whether people go missing on
the battlefield or are the victims of forced disappearances, their
relatives have a right to know what has happened to them.
More than 10 years after Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a ceasefire
agreement ending the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, during which
thousands went missing, many families are still uncertain about
the fate of their loved ones. The ICRC is keeping up its efforts
to help the authorities of both countries fulfil their obligations
under international humanitarian law to find out what happened to
those people.
In February 2004 the ICRC submitted to the authorities of Armenia
and Azerbaijan, and to the de facto authorities of Nagorno Karabakh,
a list of persons unaccounted for in connection with the conflict. The
updated version of this list contains 3,165 names. In January 2005
the ICRC further submitted to the parties a memorandum encouraging
them to help elucidate the fate of these people and proposing that
specific activities be undertaken to obtain information on the missing
and make it available, to recover and identify human remains and to
support the families involved.
The ICRC is continuing to collect tracing requests from the families
of missing persons and it plans to step up this activity in 2006,
when it will begin gathering personal information (ante-mortem data)
that might help the authorities identify the remains of those who died
during the conflict. This will be done in close cooperation with the
respective State commissions on POWs, hostages and missing persons.
At the same time, the ICRC is encouraging the authorities to record
and protect burial sites believed to contain the remains of people
who died during the conflict with a view to their future possible
recovery and identification.
The ICRC is also strongly urging the authorities to provide
psychosocial assistance for the families who require it and is
supporting them in their efforts to do so.
A1+
| 12:23:04 | 30-08-2005 | Politics |
Today, on the International Day of the Disappeared, the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) calls for renewed attention to one
of the most serious humanitarian problems caused by armed conflict -
the fate of missing persons and the suffering of their families.
Today, hundreds of thousands of families around the world remain
without any news of their relatives who went missing in situations
of armed conflict or internal violence. Whether people go missing on
the battlefield or are the victims of forced disappearances, their
relatives have a right to know what has happened to them.
More than 10 years after Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a ceasefire
agreement ending the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, during which
thousands went missing, many families are still uncertain about
the fate of their loved ones. The ICRC is keeping up its efforts
to help the authorities of both countries fulfil their obligations
under international humanitarian law to find out what happened to
those people.
In February 2004 the ICRC submitted to the authorities of Armenia
and Azerbaijan, and to the de facto authorities of Nagorno Karabakh,
a list of persons unaccounted for in connection with the conflict. The
updated version of this list contains 3,165 names. In January 2005
the ICRC further submitted to the parties a memorandum encouraging
them to help elucidate the fate of these people and proposing that
specific activities be undertaken to obtain information on the missing
and make it available, to recover and identify human remains and to
support the families involved.
The ICRC is continuing to collect tracing requests from the families
of missing persons and it plans to step up this activity in 2006,
when it will begin gathering personal information (ante-mortem data)
that might help the authorities identify the remains of those who died
during the conflict. This will be done in close cooperation with the
respective State commissions on POWs, hostages and missing persons.
At the same time, the ICRC is encouraging the authorities to record
and protect burial sites believed to contain the remains of people
who died during the conflict with a view to their future possible
recovery and identification.
The ICRC is also strongly urging the authorities to provide
psychosocial assistance for the families who require it and is
supporting them in their efforts to do so.