Associations representing families of the deceased and missing persons, along with representatives of civil society from Ukraine, visited Tuzla two days ago as part of a study visit organized by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) of the Western Balkans in cooperation with the Commission from Ukraine. During this visit, they had the opportunity to learn about the identification process, among other things.
Olena Belyachkova from the Media Initiative for Human Rights in Ukraine stated that her country faced a large number of missing persons and a massive war for the first time. According to the data available to Ukrainian institutions, the number of missing persons is nearly 38.000 – including both military personnel and civilians.
“It should be noted that this number has been increasing since the beginning of the comprehensive aggression on February 24th, 2022. These figures do not include data on persons who went missing earlier or data from temporarily occupied territories to which we do not have access,” said Belyachkova.
During their stay in Tuzla, families from Ukraine visited the ICMP premises and the Data Management Department.
ICMP spokesperson Sasa Kulukcija stated that representatives of civil society from Ukraine could see firsthand how the process of identifying missing persons unfolds in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), i.e., in the Western Balkans.
“They will learn more about the data management system here because it is a crucial part of the process of searching for missing persons. It is essentially a common data repository, and it is essential for them to learn now how the process of searching for missing persons works, i.e., what are the best practices that they can apply in Ukraine. Unfortunately, the conflict is still ongoing there, so they are at the very beginning of the process of searching for missing persons,” Kulukcija said.
After a few days of visits to Sarajevo, Srebrenica, and Tuzla, families from Ukraine stated that the experience and assistance from people who have been involved in the process of searching for missing persons for years will be beneficial for them to know what steps to take and whom to contact.
They hope for the conflict to end soon so they can begin the search for their loved ones. Meanwhile, civil society is doing everything in its power to collect data on missing persons.
In addition to visits to Tuzla and Srebrenica, where they could hear firsthand experiences from individuals involved in the search for missing persons, families from Ukraine also held several important meetings with representatives of institutions in BiH – the Institute for Missing Persons, the State Prosecutor’s Office, and the Ombudsman for Human Rights, Detektor writes.
Photo: BIRN
E.Dz.
