Yerevan (ICRC) – 30 August marks the International Day of the Disappeared. Hundreds of thousands of people are missing around the world as a result of armed conflict, violence, migration and natural disasters. Some go missing in action. Some are forcibly disappeared. This represents a global humanitarian tragedy on a large scale. Each year, thousands lose contact with their loved ones as they flee fighting or seek a better life elsewhere. Many never return and are never heard from again.
As of today, more than 145,000 persons are registered as missing by their families with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and new cases are added every day. This is only the tip of the iceberg as it is impossible to know the true number of people missing globally.
In 2019 alone almost 25,000 new missing persons cases were registered by the ICRC’s Central Tracing Agency – the neutral entity mandated by the Geneva Conventions. In the first half of 2020, over 7,300 new missing persons cases were registered.
These numbers only reveal part of the tragedy, as behind every missing person there are countless more people affected. Families of missing and communities suffer from the anguish and uncertainty of not knowing the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones and struggle with the multiple consequences that disappearances have on their lives.
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In connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the ICRC has registered over 4,500 missing people, military and civilians, through its delegations in Yerevan and Baku and its mission in Nagorno-Karabakh. In line with its mandate under the international humanitarian law, the ICRC assists the parties to the conflict with its expertise, and by acting as a neutral intermediary to support their efforts and encourage them to do all possible to clarify the fate of the missing people.
The ICRC is a neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other violence. The organization has been carrying out humanitarian work in the region related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict since 1992.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
