the International Committee of the Red Cross investigates the fate of at least 23,000 missing people

This is undoubtedly only “the tip of the iceberg”, because the humanitarian institution has received more than 115,000 tracing requests from families.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) seeks to “shedding light on the fate of 23,000 people who have disappeared” since the start of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, announced the humanitarian institution in a press release published Monday February 19. “Opened in March 2022, the office of the ICRC central tracing agency for the international armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine” is dedicated to searching for missing people in each camp, “whether they were captured, killed or separated from their loved ones” following the fighting, writes the ICRC.

“The figure of 23,000 represents the number of people – children or adults – for whom members of their families have opened a requesttells franceinfo Achille Desprès, spokesperson for the ICRC in Ukraine. So this is probably just the tip of the iceberg.” Over the past two years, the institution has received more than 115,000 tracing requests from families in Ukraine and Russia, the ICRC said.

And hasu January 31, 2024, the ICRC – with the help of several National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – had helped 8,000 families from Ukraine and Russia “to obtain information on the fate or whereabouts of their loved ones”according to the press release.

The two belligerents collect this information

The ACR office for the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is the first of the ICRC set up specifically for an international conflict in more than thirty years, making this mission the most important since the Second World War. In accordance with the Geneva Conventions, the two countries have each established a national information office (BNR) responsible for collecting, centralizing and transmitting information relating to protected persons (such as prisoners of war and civilian internees) who are between their hands, explains the ICRC.

Acting as a neutral intermediary between Russia and Ukraine, the ACR office collects, centralizes and records this information, then transmits it to the camp concerned, specifies the institution. The parties to an international conflict are “required to treat those under their control with humanity and to ensure that the dead are cared for in a dignified manner”recalls the ICRC.