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Date: Wed, 26 Jun 1996 16:41:55 -0700 (PDT)
Reply-To: Conference "zamir.chat" 
From: PeaceNet Balkans Desk 
Subject: Re: Missing persons project (in English)
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Here's the ICRC press release, taken from the ICRC web site
(http://www.icrc.ch/icrcnews/4fe6.htm).
 
Ovo je objava za stampa ICRCa, da uzzen do ICRCa web-site.
 
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Press Release, 12 June 1996
 
ICRC launches public campaign to trace the missing in Bosnia and
Herzegovina
 
Sarajevo (ICRC) - The International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) is today launching a public campaign to collect
information on persons reported missing during the war in Bosnia
and Herzegovina, in order to provide their families with definite
answers as to their whereabouts.
 
The first issue of a publication containing information collected
from the families of 11,000 missing persons, such as personal
details and the date and place where they were last seen, is now
available at all Red Cross offices in the former Yugoslavia and
at the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies of countries
which have received refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The
same information can also be accessed on the ICRC public server
on the Web at http://www.icrc.org. The ICRC expects this
initiative to generate a major response from the public.
 
With the aim of reaching as wide a readership as possible,
leaflets and posters informing the population about this new
publication have been distributed through National Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies, and radio and television spots have been
broadcast on local networks in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ICRC
also appeals to the families of missing persons who have not yet
filed an ICRC tracing request to do so, to allow the ICRC to
continue collecting and centralizing requests and replies.
 
The ICRC regards it as a matter of the utmost importance that the
families concerned be informed of the fate of their relatives
without further delay. Although a number of missing persons could
still be in detention, in hiding or abroad, the ICRC has reason
to believe that most of those whom it has not been possible to
trace so far are no longer alive. Nevertheless, families have the
right to know what happened to their loved ones. Without such
answers, peace and reconciliation might be difficult to achieve.
 
Under the Peace Agreement, the parties are obliged to provide
information to the ICRC, which in turn has been entrusted with
the task of collecting all relevant information on missing
persons. All the former warring parties regularly meet in a
Working Group chaired by the ICRC to exchange information about
persons still unaccounted for. "We hope that this massive
campaign aimed at the general public will help speed up the
process", said Beat Schweizer, head of the ICRC delegation in
Sarajevo. "Distressed families come to our offices every day, but
without the active support of the population and the relevant
authorities we are unable to give them the information they
need".
_______
Ed Agro
Peacenet Balkans Desk - People Finder Service
pnbalkans@igc.apc.org