ICMP will react faster and more effectively from now on

The Foreign Ministers of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg today signed a Framework Agreement establishing a new legal status for the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), the ICMP announced, reports the BiH news agency Patria (NAP).

- This Agreement reflects a new international consensus on the issue of missing persons - stated ICMP Director, Kathryne Bomberger, immediately after the ceremony held on the occasion of its signing.

- For decades, the problem of missing persons has been treated as a humanitarian issue, as an issue of removing the consequences of disasters, or as an issue of wartime urgency – but it is now recognized as a systemic global challenge that requires a coherent and effective global response.

Bomberger also stated that the Agreement gives ICMP the tools they need to remain at the forefront of this global response.

- ICMP has been working worldwide for over a decade: this Agreement means we can undertake new initiatives in a way that is consistent with and follows new international agreements concerning the issue of missing persons.

ICMP was established in 1996 to ensure government cooperation in efforts to account for approximately 40,000 people who went missing during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. Reflecting the organization's outstanding success in fulfilling its mandate in the Western Balkans and recognizing the global nature of the problem of missing persons, governments that supported ICMP's work expanded its mandate and scope of action in addressing the issue of missing persons beyond the borders of the former Yugoslavia in 2003, including cases resulting from other disasters and catastrophes.

The Chairman of the ICMP Board of Directors, Thomas Miller, said that the Agreement is aligned with ICMP's unique expertise.

- This is a logical step for ICMP, which has written good guidelines for responding to disappearance cases in the last decade - he said.

- It gives the organization a solid legal and administrative foundation, so it will be able to react quickly and effectively wherever needed.

It is estimated that more than 30,000 people went missing during the aggression against BiH from 1992 to 1995. Around 27,000 have been found, while the others are still being searched for, writes Patria.