During the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, 23 thousand people disappeared. Such data of the press service of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) gives on Monday, February 19.
ICKK is trying to find out the fate of 23 thousand people whose families have no news of their relatives and friends, the statement said.
as of the end of January 2024, the Committee in cooperation with the national societies of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent in Ukraine, in Russia and other countries “helped 8 thousand families to receive information about the fate or whereabouts of their missing loved one.”
Over the past two years, the ICRC has received more than 115 thousand phone calls, online questions, letters or personal visits of families from Russia and Ukraine, looking for their missing relatives.
The organization explained that the Bureau of the Central Investigation Agency created in March 2022 works with the parties, providing support to people who are looking for relatives on both sides of the front.
Acting as a neutral intermediary, the bureau brings together the received information and transmits them “from one side of the other.”
According to the Geneva Conventions, the parties are obliged to inform the ICD “about all persons who are in their power that enjoyed protection, which significantly reduces the likelihood of their unknown disappearance,” the committee noted.
ICKK once again recalled that the right of families to know about the fate of their missing relatives, friends and relatives is enshrined in international humanitarian law.
In any international armed conflict, the parties are obliged to prevent the loss of people and ensure that families looking for their loved ones are informed about what happened to them.