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SARAJEVO, July 7 (FENA) - The International Committee of the Red Cross of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ICRC) and the Missing Persons Institute (INO) in BiH today signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at strengthening cooperation between the two institutions in several key segments. About 7,600 persons are still listed as missing due to the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Agreement regulates, among other things, activities related to searching databases and archives of relevant international organizations and institutions conducted by the ICRC, in order to find information that would help shed light on the fate and whereabouts of missing persons.
As a neutral and independent organization, the ICRC has access to many international archives and searches them to find information on potential locations of mass and individual graves.
In addition, the ICRC received access or information from the archives of the German Ministry of Defense, the Western European Union and the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in addition to the already available archives of Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, France, the European Commission, Italy and NATO and UNHCR.
“As part of the search of the archives, our investigators have so far searched a total of 2,907 names of missing persons and we have found some data related to about 50 percent of those names. We collected a total of 50,000 pages of documentation from these archives. This does not mean that this information will automatically lead to the discovery of graves, but they can certainly help in that process,” said Head of the ICRC delegation, Elmir Camić.
In order to speed up the search process, Camić emphasizes that international archives are not enough, and that it is necessary to ensure access to domestic archives.
As part of a five-year strategy for missing persons and their families, the ICRC has included support for the Missing Persons Institute in addition to searching the archives. In accordance with that, the memorandum defines the parts of cooperation related to strengthening the capacity of the Institute.
7,601 missing persons are still searched for in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their families have been living in uncertainty for more than twenty-five years, not knowing the fate of their loved ones or where they are. The biggest obstacle is the lack of credible information about individual and mass graves. Through joint efforts, both institutions continue to appeal to the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to fulfill their obligations, both to the Missing Persons Institute and to the families of the missing, the ICRC said.
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