International Day of the Disappeared
On the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared (IDOD) on 30 August 2024, we stand in solidarity with the families of missing persons, including victims of enforced disappearance, and to commemorate their missing relatives. We want the families of missing persons to know that they are not alone, that their loved ones are not forgotten, and that we will continue to do our outmost to help them obtain the answers and support they deserve.
In 2023:
1. More than 65,800 people were registered as missing by their families with the Family Links Network, bringing the current number of registered missing people to more than 239,700.
2. Located more than 16,600 people and reunited nearly 7,900 people with their families*
3. Delivered nearly 137,800 Red Cross Messages and facilitated nearly more than 2 million telephone calls.
(*These cases were resolved by the ICRC, National Societies and in some cases families themselves.)
By the end of 2023, more than 239,700 missing persons were registered by the Family Links Network of the RCRC Movement around the world. We know this figure only captures a small percentage and does not convey the true extent of the issue.
(*These cases were resolved by the ICRC, National Societies and in some cases families themselves.)
The Cyprus Red Cross Society (CRCS) as a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, has been engaged in supporting migrants in tracing the whereabouts of direct relatives they have lost contact with following their migrant journeys to Cyprus. Today, more than 30 cases have been opened by the CRCS in an effort to find these missing persons across the globe.
For the past 150 years, the ICRC’s Central Tracing Agency has been helping people who are separated from their loved ones. Together with the Red Cross and Red Crescent Family Links Network, we are at the heart of efforts around the globe to protect and restore family links, search for and identify missing people, protect the dignity of the dead and address the needs of families of missing people.
Ms Florence Anselmo, Head of the Central Tracing Agency, ICRC stated: “The environment is changing. Posing new challenges. What doesn’t change is that war, violence, disasters, displacement continue to separate families and that their suffering is immense. And that in crisis the first need they express is to restore contact with loved ones.”