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The Hague, 17 November 2025 – The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and the Syrian National Commission for Missing Persons (NCMP) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) formalizing their cooperation. The MoU outlines measures to support the NCMP in undertaking a sustainable, Syrian-led process to find missing persons, regardless of ethnic, religious and national origin, or circumstances of disappearance.
The signing event took place at Leiden University’s campus in The Hague and was attended by students, academics, members of the international community, and the media. Organized in partnership with Leiden University, the event was moderated by ICMP Commissioner and former Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders and funded by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office. “This agreement will make it possible for ICMP and the NCMP to work together in a coordinated and efficient way,” Mr. Koenders said.
Dr. Mohamed Rida Jalkhi, Head of the NCMP, and Kathryne Bomberger, Director-General of ICMP signed the MoU, which builds on discussions in Damascus earlier this month, and outlines the operational support that ICMP will endeavor to provide to the NCMP, including support in enhancing Syria’s legislative framework to secure the rights of families of the missing, and building Syria’s scientific and technical capacities to locate, recover and identify missing persons, and its capacities to conduct judicial investigations into missing persons cases. ICMP also proposed to support the NCMP in its efforts to provide accurate and reliable information to families of the missing and to provide extensive training in the fields of excavation, identification, data protection, crime-scene investigation and other relevant fields. The agreement provides a framework for sustained engagement between the two organizations in developing a secure, evidence-based and transparent process to locate and identify Syria’s missing.
Following the signing, Dr. Jalkhi delivered a lecture explaining how the NCMP intends to set about locating up to 300,000 people who are missing as a result of decades of conflict, human rights abuses, and displacement in Syria. He emphasized the importance of locating all missing persons – regardless of their ethnic, religious, or political background – and securing the rights of all families to truth and justice as essential steps toward social and political recovery.
“The National Commission for the Missing is formally and publicly committed to uncovering the fate of the missing, regardless of their affiliations or the circumstances of their disappearance,” said Dr Jalkhi. He added that the commission is determined to address “the challenge of building specialized national capacities that will uncover the truth and uphold the dignity of the victims and their families, and work has already taken place to prepare an effective missing persons process that is embedded in the rule of law.”
On 5 November, the NCMP signed a Declaration of Principles of Collaboration with ICMP, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria (IIMP). The Declaration reaffirms the shared commitment of the three international organizations, in line with their respective mandates, to support the Syrian authorities and the NCMP in a national process to clarify the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons in Syria, regardless of the circumstances of their disappearance or affiliations, and to support their families.
“ICMP is committed to helping the NCMP, Syrian institutions and families of the missing to implement a long-term and effective missing persons process, by transferring technical expertise, delivering training, and supporting an approach that is based on the rule of law,” Ms Bomberger said.
About ICMP
ICMP is a treaty-based intergovernmental organization with Headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands. Its mandate is to secure the cooperation of governments and others in locating missing persons from conflict, human rights abuses, disasters, organized crime, migration and other causes and to assist them in doing so. ICMP also supports the work of other organizations in their efforts, encourages public involvement in its activities, and contributes to the development of appropriate expressions of commemoration and tribute to the missing.
