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Baghdad, 27 June 2025 – The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) has successfully facilitated a DNA reference sample collection campaign for members of the Yazidi community living in Germany who have missing relatives from Iraq. The initiative, organized and funded by ICMP, is part of efforts to help the Iraqi authorities identify victims buried in mass graves and resolve cases of enforced disappearance and other crimes committed by Da’esh.
The campaign took place from 5 to 15 June in the cities of Hannover and Stuttgart, with a delegation of 14 officials from Iraq’s Mass Graves and Missing Persons Directorate (MGMPD) of the Martyrs’ Foundation and the Medico-Legal Directorate (MLD) of the Ministry of Health carrying out the collection of DNA samples and related data from Yazidi families.
To mark the start of the campaign, ICMP convened a dialogue session that brought together senior representatives from the Office of the Iraqi Prime Minister, the Medico-Legal Institute of the Kurdistan Regional Government, the Directorate for Survivors Affairs, and the MGMPD, and MLD, along with members of the Yazidi community, family representatives, and NGOs. The session was an open forum to share information on the objectives of the Iraqi government and the technical procedures involved in DNA collection and identification efforts.
During the campaign, more than 300 DNA reference samples were collected, along with extensive supporting information that will contribute to future identification processes.
“The Yazidi community has endured unimaginable suffering, and locating the missing and investigating their disappearances is essential to delivering truth and justice,” said ICMP Director-General Kathryne Bomberger. “Through this campaign we are helping the Iraq authorities ensure that the families of the missing are placed front and center of efforts to find their loved ones and to lay the foundation for future accountability.”
This initiative reflects the continuing cooperation between ICMP and the Iraqi authorities to support a sustainable, inclusive, and rights-based approach to accounting for the missing, and it underscores a shared commitment to uphold the rights of families to truth, justice, and reparations.
The DNA collection campaign was made possible through the generous support of the German Federal Foreign Office.
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, irregular 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.
