On 26 April, The Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC) organized a joint meeting between the KRG Relevant Departments and International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), the meeting chaired by Karim Sinjari, KRG Minister of Interior, for the development a working framework between both sides to locating missing persons, conducting excavations of mortal remains and identifying victims exhumed from mass graves and giving the remains to their families, such as the missing persons who were the victim of ISIS, especially the Yezidis.
Minister Sinjari explained the purpose of the meeting to the participants and expressed his gratitude for the presence of the ICMP team to coordinate and cooperation with the KRG in terms of technical expertise related to data collection, preserving and excavation of mass graves.
Minister Sinjari highlighted that during the past three years, thousands of people have been the victim of the ISIS war where many of them are still missing, and said that the it is the government’s responsibility to exert all efforts possible to find the mission persons and identify them to their families and reiterated that this is a long-term process that requires experts, expertise, technology, labs and scientific knowledge within the legal frameworks.
Lena Larsson, Head of Mission for the International Commission on Missing Persons in Iraq, thanked the Interior Minister for supervising the meeting and emphasized on the importance of having cooperation and coordination between all sides on this important matter.
Then, the ICMP technical team gave a detailed presentation about the mandate of ICMP, their work and capabilities and additionally, the areas they can provide support to the Ministry of Interior and other KRG institutions for the purpose of finding the missions persons.
After detailed discussion on the matter in terms of technical, human rights and expertise, Minister Sinjari proposed four key points as the foundation for the joint working framework which endorsed by the ICMP and the meeting participants.
The meeting were attended by Representatives of Ministry of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs, Department of Foreign Relations, Department of Yezidis Affairs, Department of Criminal Evidence at the Ministry of Interior, Department of Forensic Medicine at Ministry of Justice, Department of High Council of Women’s Affairs, and Center for ISIS Criminal Investigations and JCC.
