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21 April 2011: The British Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, H.E. Michael Tatham opened a session of the Advisory Board of the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina (MPI BiH) by launching an ICMP Guide for Families of the Missing. Following this, Ambassador Tatham visited the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) facilities and met with ICMP’s forensic experts in Tuzla.
Ambassador Tatham opened the BIH MPI Advisory Board session and addressed the attending representatives of missing persons’ family associations from the region of Eastern and Northern BiH, as well as representatives of MPI’s Board of Directors and its Steering Board.
“The British Government is pleased to have supported the publication of this ICMP Guide for Families of the Missing”, H.E. Michael Tatham said during the opening of MPI Advisory Board meeting. “It has been compiled from questions raised by family members throughout BiH during an extensive series of meetings in March 2011 at which ICMP also presented its Online Inquiry Centre. These initiatives are intended to provide reliable information to families at a time when inaccurate and politically motivated statements cause unnecessary distress to people who have already suffered too much.”
Ambassador Tatham then visited ICMP’s Identification Coordination Division (ICD), where ICMP receives, submits for processing, archives, and matches all blood samples collected from relatives of missing persons and all bone samples from exhumed mortal remains received from government authorities in all of the countries where ICMP has programs. Having been bar-coded to ensure anonymity the samples are sent to ICMP’s laboratories for DNA analysis. Once extracted, the DNA profiles are entered into ICMP’s database and compared to each other to find possible matches. To date ICMP has made 13,500 matches for BiH alone. Including identification made by traditional means, over two thirds of those missing from the conflict have been identified regardless of ethnicity.
Ambassador Tatham also toured PIP, a facility specifically created to assist in the identification of persons missing from the 1995 fall of Srebrenica, and where mortal remains of these victims are examined and stored until final identification. Ambassador Tatham saw first-hand how ICMP forensic experts conduct ante-mortem and post-mortem data comparisons, and assist domestic authorities in PIP in making a final determination of identity so that families can bury their loved ones with dignity.
The series of meeting throughout BiH and the publication of ICMP’s guide for families of missing persons was financed via a generous donation from the British Government.
In addition to its technical support in the identification process, ICMP is the co-founder of the Missing Persons Institute of BiH. ICMP also contributes to transitional justice activities, provides legislative support and helps in the development of networks of civil society organizations which advocate for truth, justice, and for the rights of family members of missing persons.[:bs]
Ambasador Velike Britanije u Bosni i Hercegovini, Njegova Ekselencija Michael Tatham, je promocijom ICMP-ovog vodiča za porodice nestalih osoba otvorio današnju sjednicu Savjetodavnog odbora Instituta za nestale osobe Bosne i Hercegovine (INO/INL BiH) u Tuzli. Poslije sastanka, ambasador Tatham je obišao objekte Međunarodne komisije za nestale osobe (ICMP) u Tuzli i susreo se sa ICMP-ovim forenzičkim stručnjacima.
Otvarajući sjednicu Savjetodavnog odbora INO BiH Ambasador Tatham obratio se prisutnim predstavnicima udruženja porodica nestalih osoba sa područja istočne i sjeverne Bosne i Hercegovine, kao i predstavnicima Kolegija direktora INO BiH i Upravnog odbora INO BiH.
„Britanska vlada je sa zadovoljstvom pomogla publikovanje ICMP-ovog vodiča za porodice nestalih osoba“, izjavio je ambasador Michael Tatham tokom svoje uvodne riječi na sastanku Savjetodavnog odbora INO BiH. „Ovaj vodič sadrži pitanja koja su postavili članovi porodica iz svih dijelova BiH tokom opširnih sastanaka u martu 2011. godine tokom kojih je ICMP predstavio i svoj Online-centar za upit o nestalim osobama. Ovakve inicijative imaju za cilj da porodicama pruže pouzdane informacije u vremenu kada netačne i politički motivirane izjave uzrokuju nepotrebnu bol ljudima koji su već toliko mnogo propatili“.
Ambasador Tatham je potom obišao ICMP-ov Odsjek za koordinaciju identifikacija (ICD), u kojem ICMP prima, procesuira, arhivira i vrši podudaranja između krvnih uzoraka živih srodnika nestalih osoba i koštanih uzoraka ekshumiranih posmrtnih ostataka, koje prima od vladinih institucija u zemljama gdje ICMP radi. Nakon dodjele jedinstvenog bar-koda, kojim se garantuje njihova anonimnost, uzorci se prosljeđuju u ICMP-ove laboratorije na analizu DNK. Nakon ekstrakcije, profili DNK se unose u ICMP-ovu bazu i porede sa ostalim profilima kako bi se otkrila podudaranja genetskog materijala. ICMP je do danas napravio 13.500 podudaranja DNK samo u BiH. Uključujući i prijašnje identifikacije klasičnim metodama do danas je, bez obzira na nacionalnost, identificirano preko dvije trećine osoba nestalih u ovdašnjim sukobima.
Ambasador Tatham je posjetio i PIP, objekat koji je oformljen posebno za pomoć u identifikaciji osoba nestalih u padu Srebrenice 1995. godine i u kojem se posmrtni ostaci žrtava obrađuju i čuvaju do konačne identifikacije. Ambassador Tatham je lično prisustvovao proceduri tokom koje forenzički eksperti vrše komparaciju ante-mortem i post-mortem podataka, čime pomažu domaćim vlastima u konačnom zaključivanju identifikacije kako bi porodice mogle svoje voljene dostojno ukopati.
Održavanje sastanaka širom BiH i publikovanje ICMP-ovog vodiča za porodice nestalih osoba finansirani su donacijom Vlade Velike Britanije.
Osim pružanja stručne pomoći u procesu identifikacije, ICMP je suosnivač Instituta za nestale osobe BiH. Također, ICMP pomaže uspostavu pravde u periodu tranzicije, obezbjeđuje pravnu podršku i pomaže razvoju mreža organizacija civilnog sektora koje se zalažu za istinu, pravdu i za prava članova porodica nestalih.[:ar][:es][:]
