Missing persons
International law requires each party to the conflict to search for persons reported missing by an adverse party, as soon as circumstances permit and at the latest from the end of active hostilities. See also Family reunification; Dead persons; Tracing; Central Tracing Agency;
OUTLINE
LEGAL SOURCE
DOCUMENT
CASES
Bangladesh/India/Pakistan, 1974 Agreement (Art. 12)
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Coard v. United States
ECHR, Cyprus v. Turkey (Paras. 129-150)
Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Bámaca-Velasquez v. Guatemala
The Conflict in Western Sahara (Parts A. and B.)
Central African Republic/Democratic Republic of Congo/Uganda, LRA attacks
BIBLIOGRAPHIC RESOURCES
Special Issue “Missing Persons”, in IRRC, No. 848, December 2002, pp. 720-902. SASSÒLI Marco, “Les disparus de guerre : Les règles du droit international et les besoins des familles entre espoir et incertitude”, in Frontières, vol. 15/2, Spring 2003, pp. 38-44. ICRC & Inter-Parliamentary Union, Missing Persons: A Handbook for Parliamentarians, Geneva, ICRC, 2009, 92 p. ICRC, Missing people, DNAanalysis and identification of human remains: a guide to best practice in armed conflicts and other situations of armed violence, Geneva, ICRC, 2009, 48 p. PETRIG Anna, “The War Dead and their Gravesites”, in IRRC, Vol. 91, No. 874, June 2009, pp. 341-369 SASSÒLI Marco & TOUGAS Marie-Louise, “The ICRC and the Missing”, in IRRC, No. 848, December 2002, pp. 727-750.