ICRC Geneva - The 19th meeting of the Coordination Mechanism seeking to clarify the fate and whereabouts of people missing in relation to the armed conflicts of the 1990s and August 2008 and their aftermath was held in Ergneti, Georgia, on 14th of March 2024.
The Coordination Mechanism, bringing together Georgian, South Ossetian and Russian participants, was established under the auspices and with the technical expertise of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 2010 as a purely humanitarian platform.
Besides presenting an update on the progress made since the last meeting of the Coordination Mechanism in May 2023, discussions emphasized the need to search for information to clarify what happened to those missing, including possible burial places, and the ongoing challenges related to the process.
The dialogue within the Coordination Mechanism is solely driven by humanitarian efforts.
"There is a shared recognition of the importance of advancing the search for 118 missing people. It is crucial for all sides to engage at a greater level in the search and identification process and in providing support to the families of the missing. This partnership is necessary for the process to proceed effectively and sustainably," stated Agnès Coutou, the ICRC Envoy on Missing Persons in the Caucasus, who presided over the meeting.
According to international humanitarian law (IHL), families of missing people have the right to know what happened to their loved ones. Reliable information about missing people, including potential burial sites, is necessary for clarifying what happened to them. Any information received by the ICRC is treated with confidentiality and used for humanitarian purposes only.
