Families of the missing inspire each other at 3rd International Conference

• 37 families of missing persons from all communities in Sri Lanka joined from Colombo, Vavuniya and Batticaloa

Around 700 families of missing persons from all over the world came together from 21 to 23 November 2023 to share their experiences and gain inspiration at the third International Conference for Families of Missing Persons, a unique forum that brings together families whose loved ones have gone missing due to armed conflict, migration, or other situations of violence.

The event was hosted by ICRC delegations and Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies through 44 conference hubs around the world, from Auckland, New Zealand to Ayacucho, Peru. 

It was a unique global opportunity for families of missing persons to come together, share and talk about their own experience, inspire, and be inspired by the experiences of others. 

The conference provided a virtual platform for families to see how others around the world are coping with the uncertainty, understand the challenges, learn about the support services available to them and how families can help each other. 

Thirty-seven families of missing persons from all communities in Sri Lanka joined from Colombo, Vavuniya and Batticaloa to share their experience and exchange their views with families from other countries.

The participating families were also given the opportunity to interact with the Global Alliance for the Missing, a group of twelve member states established in 2021 to advocate on the issue of missing persons at diplomatic level. 

The conference brought to light the urgency of providing answers on the fate and whereabouts of missing persons in order to alleviate their suffering. The conference also underlined the importance of the participation of families of missing persons in the search process and the need for dignified treatment of families of missing persons. The significance of keeping the issue of missing persons on national and global agendas was also highlighted. 

Emphasising the global scale of the issue of missing persons, the conference underscored the urgent need for addressing the devastating impact created by the absence of missing loved ones on the lives of countless people who missed them, their immediate community and wider society. 

The first International Conference for Families of Missing Persons was held in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2019 while the second edition was held in 2021 as a hybrid event.