The International Commission on Missing Persons ( ICMP) is an intergovernmental organization that addresses the issue of persons missing as a result of , violations of human rights, and . It is headquartered in The Hague, The Netherlands. It assists governments in the exhumation of and DNA identification of , provides support to family associations of missing persons, and assists in creating strategies and institutions to search for missing persons. In December 2014, a treaty was signed which established the commission as an International Organisation. The treaty has five signatories: the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg. It designates The Hague (Netherlands) as the seat of the organization.
In the Western Balkans, ICMP is closely associated with three forensic facilities, two of which focus on Cadaver related to the fall of Srebrenica. These are the Podrinje Identification Project (PIP) and the Lukavac Reassociation Centre (LKRC). The Krajina Identification Project (KIP) is the primary facility for remains related to the area of Sanski Most and Prijedor. ICMP has offices in Sarajevo and Tuzla (Western Balkans Program), Tirana (Albania Program), Baghdad and Arbil (Iraq Program), Beirut (Syria-MENA Program), Bogota (Colombia Program), and Nuevo León (Mexico Program), as well as Headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands.
By the end of 2018, ICMP's efforts had resulted in DNA-assisted identifications of 20,473 individuals.
In June 2008, Philippines was struck by Typhoon Frank which caused over 1,000 deaths. In an effort to assist Philippines in identifying persons who perished as a consequence of this tragedy, Interpol invited ICMP to work together with them to provide assistance, thus invoking for the first time an agreement signed between ICMP and Interpol in November 2007 to respond jointly to disaster situations.
The Director-General, Kathryne Bomberger, was appointed by ICMP's Commissioners in April 2004 as the organization's chief executive officer and is responsible for the direction and oversight of all activities and programs in all areas of operation. On June 14, 2007, Bomberger was made Knight of the Legion d'Honneur by the President of France as "the proof of attention and recognition of the French Government for the work of Kathryne Bomberger in her mission and exceptional achievements of ICMP".
Following ICMP's and Interpol's joint efforts on Typhoon Frank victim identification, on February 5, 2009, a Presidential Award from Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the President of the Republic of the Philippines, was given to Kathryne Bomberger, ICMP Director General, for "her exceptional commitment to and outstanding achievements in locating and identifying persons missing as a result of natural or human-induced disasters". IC-MP.org
The treaty establishes The Hague as the seat of the commission and establishes a Conference of States Parties (representing all states party to the treaty), a Financial Committee (representing all contributing states), a "Board of Commissioners" (chosen "from among eminent persons") and a Director-General.
|
|