Number of missing persons rising globally — ICMP

The number of missing persons worldwide is rising amid an increase in armed conflicts, migration crises, natural disasters and climate change, International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) Director-General Kathryne Bomberger said.

“Today we are experiencing the highest number of conflicts since 1946,” Bomberger told an international conference in Baku, citing the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).

She said the experience of the Western Balkans had demonstrated the effectiveness of DNA technology in identifying missing persons on a large scale. More than 75% of around 40,000 people who went missing in connection with the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia have now been accounted for.

Bomberger said, however, that DNA analysis alone was not sufficient to establish what happened to a missing person. While DNA can establish identity, investigative and forensic evidence, proper documentation and data management, as well as cooperation between institutions, are also needed to determine the circumstances of a disappearance.