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Erbil, 4 December 2025 – The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) held a roundtable today on the missing persons process in Iraq. Key Iraqi government institutions and civil society organizations (CSOs) participated, along with representatives of families of the missing. The meeting in Erbil reviewed progress that has been made and examined ways of coordinating and enhancing efforts to account for the missing.
Institutions that took part were the Directorate for Protection of Mass Graves and Missing Persons (MGMPD), the Medico-Legal Directorate (MLD), the General Directorate for Survivors’ Affairs (YSD), the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR), the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, and the Medico Legal Institute of the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG), as well as 20 representatives of CSOs, family associations, and families of the missing.
During the event, ICMP launched a “Guide to Accessing Rights For Families of Missing Persons in Iraq” . This booklet is designed to help families understand their rights; it outlines the steps that are available to families through the missing person process and explains how they can follow up on cases with the relevant state authorities.
The roundtable highlighted the need to:
- Establish a networking project for civil society organizations;
- Communicate with organizations that have information and lists containing the names and addresses of families of the missing;
- Continue to support and organize this type of useful roundtable discussion; and
- Ensure that these discussions are more broadly covered in the media.
“Iraq is moving in the right direction to account for its missing, but the job is far from over. The upcoming challenges require constant cooperation from everyone involved,” said Alexander Hug, Head of ICMP’s Iraq Program. “ICMP will continue to support Iraqi institutions to ensure that families can access the truth they deserve.”
“It is an important and positive step that the government bodies concerned with the mass graves and missing persons are engaging with civil society organizations and the families of victims,” said Dia Kareem, Director-General of the MGMPD. “Such meetings convey a true and realistic picture of the challenges facing this issue, as well as enabling the exchange of information among the various stakeholders – something this will be positively reflected in shaping future plans. Therefore, it is of great importance that these discussion forums continue on a regular basis under the auspices of the International Commission on Missing Persons.”
Today’s roundtable was made possible through the generous support of Germany’s Federal Foreign Office.
About ICMP
The International Commission on Missing Persons (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.
