The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced it is working to determine the fate of 23,000 individuals missing amid the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
“Not knowing what happened to a loved one is excruciating, and this is the tragic reality for tens of thousands of families who live in a state of constant anguish,” said Dusan Vujasanin, the head of the ICRC’s Central Tracing Agency Bureau (CTA-B).
The ICRC, with national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in Ukraine, Russia, and other countries, has helped 8,000 families receive information about their missing relatives since the escalation of the conflict.
Despite handling over 115,000 inquiries from families, the organization continues to face challenges in providing information to all those searching for missing loved ones, according to ICRC.
“We’ve helped thousands of separated relatives communicate with or learn more about the fate of a loved one, but so many remain without news. We’re working every day to help more families,” said Vujasanin.
International humanitarian law supports the right of families to know the fate of their missing relatives, requiring all parties involved in international conflicts to prevent disappearances and ensure humane treatment for all detainees.
The CTA-B, set up in March 2022, works with conflict parties to reduce disappearances and supports families on both sides of the frontline in their search for missing relatives.
Under the Geneva Conventions, Russian and Ukrainian authorities have established National Information Bureaus (NIBs) responsible for gathering and sharing information on protected persons, such as prisoners of war or civilian internees, to help prevent their disappearance.
Vujasanin described the process of matching a family’s tracing request with information from the NIBs, which can end months of uncertainty for those involved.
