New technologies and new policies: The ICRC's evolving approach to working with separated families

International Review of the Red Cross

Volumn 94, Issue 888, 2012, Pages 1455-1479

  Dubois, Olivier ^a   Marshall, Katharine ^b   Sparkes McNamara, Siobhan ^b  

^a Protection Division of the ICRC   (Switzerland)

^b Restoring Family Links   (Switzerland)

Author keywords

crowdsourcing; families; forensics; holistic; missing; multidisciplinary; separation; technology

Indexed keywords

EID: 84893771264     PISSN: 18163831     EISSN: 16075889     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S181638311300057X     Document Type: Article

References (77)

1. Henry Dunant, A Memory of Solferino, ICRC, Geneva, 1986 (original 1862), p. 66.
2. Further information on the Family Links Network and role of the CTA can be found on the Family Links website, available at: http://familylinks.icrc.org.
3. See also Restoring Family Links Strategy, ICRC, Geneva, 2009, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/icrc-002-0967.pdf.
4. The CTA also coordinates the tracing offices of the ICRC and provides assistance to state authorities for setting up and running national information bureaus as provided for by international humanitarian law. See Geneva Convention (III) Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 135
5. Geneva Convention (IV) Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 287 (entered into force 21 October 1950), Art. 136. All internet references were last accessed in October 2013 unless otherwise stated.
6. Abby Stoddard, 'Humanitarian NGOs: challenges and trends', in Joanna Macrae and Adele Harmer (eds.), Humanitarian Policy Group Report: Humanitarian Action and the 'Global War on Terror': A Review of Trends and Issues, Overseas Development Institute, London, 2003, p. 25, available at: www.odi.org.uk/sites/ odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/287.pdf.
7. James Darcy, The MDGs and the Humanitarian-Development Divide, Overseas Development Institute, London, 2008, p. 2, available at: www.odi.org.uk/sites/ odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinionfiles/2582.pdf.
8. Julie Steets, Donor Strategies for Addressing the Transition Gap and Linking Humanitarian and Development Assistance, Global Public Policy Institute, June 2011, available at: www.gppi.net/publications/reports/donor
9. Interview with ICRC staff member (1996-present), 25 October 2012.
10. See http://familylinks.icrc.org.
11. L'Agence Centrale de Recherches du CICR: un peu d'histoire, ICRC, 1990, available at: www.icrc.org/fre/resources/documents/misc/5fzh6f.htm.
12. Gradimir Djurović, The Central Tracing Agency of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva, 1986, p. 121.
13. G. Djurović, above note 10, pp. 122-124.
14. Annual Report 2004, ICRC, Geneva, 2005, p. 96, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/annual-report/icrc-annual-report-2004.htm.
15. 'Former Guantanamo inmate Sami El-haj explains why ICRC visits were important to him', ICRC, 2009, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/resources/ documents/interview/guantanamo-interview-250809.htm;
16. see also Sami El-haj, 'A Guantanamo detainee's perspective', in this issue.
17. Available at: www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/statistics/2013/ Individuals-Internet-2000- 2012.xls.
18. Universal Postal Union, Postal Statistics Database. Query tool available at: http://pls.upu.int/pls/ap/ssp-report.main?p-language=AN&p-choice=BROWSE.
19. See items 1.2, 'Population (millions)', and 3.5, 'Average number of inhabitants served by a permanent office', for the DRC, 2011.
20. Available at: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/ statistics/2013/Mobile-cellular-2000- 2012.xls.
21. Restoring Family Links Strategy, above note 2, p. 22.
22. Annual Report 2011, ICRC, Geneva, 2012, p. 138, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/annual-report/icrc-annual-report-2011.htm (last visited 4 February 2013).
23. For a description of the ICRC's telephone services for refugees in Ethiopia, see Annual Report 2012, ICRC, Geneva, 2013, p. 135, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/resources/annual-report/index.jsp;
24. Restoring Family Links in Ethiopia, ICRC, 2013, available at: http://familylinks.icrc.org/en/Pages/Countries/Ethiopia.aspx?from= Ethiopia&to=0.
25. 'Persons detained by the US in relation to armed conflict and counter-terrorism - the role of the ICRC', ICRC, 2013, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/united-states-detention.htm.
26. See Susan D. Philips, Video Visits for Children Whose Parents Are Incarcerated: In Whose Best Interest?, The Sentencing Project, Washington, DC, 2012, p. 3.
27. See reference to 'live video meetings' on the Korean Red Cross website, available at: www.redcross.or.kr/eng/eng-activity/activity-interkorean.do.
28. For online lists of the missing, see the RFL website, available at: http://familylinks.icrc.org/en/Pages/online-tracing.aspx.
29. Restoring Family Links Strategy, above note 2, p. 24.
30. See 'crowdsourcing', on Merriam-Webster, available at: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crowdsourcing.
31. Jessica Heinzelman and Carol Waters, Crowdsourcing Crisis Information in Disaster-Affected Haiti, United States Institute of Peace, October 2010, available at: www.usip.org/sites/default/files/resources/SR252%20- %20Crowdsourcing%20Crisis%20Information%20in%20Disaster-Affected%20Haiti.pdf.
32. Patrick Meier and Rob Munro, 'The unprecedented role of SMS in disaster response: learning from Haiti', in SAIS Review, Vol. 30, No. 2, 2010, pp. 92-93.
33. See 'Google Person Finder', available at: http://google.org/personfinder/ global/home.html.
34. David Goldman, 'Google gives "20%" to Japan crisis', in CNN, 17 March 2011, available at: http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/17/technology/google- person-finder-japan/index.htm?hpt=T2 (last visited 1 February 2013).
35. For an analysis of the data protection challenges faced by websites designed for finding missing persons, see Joel R. Reidenberg, Robert Gellman, Jamela Debelak, Adam Elewa and Nancy Liu, Privacy and Missing Persons After Natural Disasters, Center on Law and Information Policy at Fordham Law School and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., and New York, 2013.
36. See, for example, the FAQs page of the Google Person Finder site: 'Q5. Who has access to the Google Person Finder data? All data entered into Google Person Finder is available to the public and searchable and accessible by anyone. Google does not review or verify the accuracy of the data'. Available at: http://support.google.com/personfinder/?hl=en#1628135 (last visited 14 September 2012).
37. Paul Currion, 'If all you have is a hammer - how useful is humanitarian crowdsourcing?', in Crowdsourcing.org, available at: www.crowdsourcing.org/ document/if-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-howuseful- is-humanitarian-crowdsourcing/ 3533.
38. Andrea H. Tapia, Kartikeya Bajpai, Bernard J. Jansen, and John Yen, Seeking the Trustworthy Tweet: Can Microblogged Data Fit the Information Needs of Disaster Response and Humanitarian Relief Organizations?, Proceedings of the 8th International ISCRAM Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, May 2011, p. 3, available at: www.iscramlive.org/ISCRAM2011/proceedings/papers/161.pdf.
39. Patrick Meier, 'New information technologies and their impact on the humanitarian sector', in International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 93, No. 884, 2011, p. 1245.
40. Professional Standards for Protection Work, 2nd edition, ICRC, Geneva, 2013, p. 113.
41. See 'Crisis mappers - the humanitarian technology network', available at: www.crisismappers.net.
42. See 'Data protection protocols for crisis mapping', on Patrick Meier's blog, iRevolution, 11 April 2013, available at: http://irevolution.net/2013/04/ 11/data-protection-for-crisis-mapping;
43. World Disasters Report 2013: Focus on Technology and the Future of Humanitarian Action, IFRC, Geneva, 2013, pp. 146 and 185.
44. The ICRC defines missing persons as follows: 'Missing persons are those persons whose families are without news of them and/or are reported unaccounted for, on the basis of reliable information, owing to armed conflict or internal violence. The term family and relatives must be understood in their broadest sense, including family members and close friends, and taking into account the cultural environment. Missing persons and their families are direct victims of armed conflict or internal violence. As such they are part of the mandate of the ICRC.' The Missing and their Families: ICRC Internal Operational Guidelines, ICRC, Geneva, 2004, p. 22.
45. See also subsequent publications available to the general public: Missing Persons: A Handbook for Parliamentarians, Handbook for Parliamentarians No. 17, 2009, p. 9, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/icrc-002-1117.pdf .
46. See Geneva Convention (IV) Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Geneva, 12 August 1949, Art. 26;
47. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977, Art. 34;
48. Marco Sassòli and Marie-Louise Tougas, 'The ICRC and the missing', in International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 84, No. 848, 2002, pp. 733-736.
49. Jon Western and Joshua S. Goldstein, 'Humanitarian intervention comes of age: lessons from Somalia to Libya', in Foreign Affairs, Vol. 90, No. 6, 2011, pp. 51-52.
50. Lana Pasic, 'Bosnia's vast foreign financial assistance re-examined: statistics and results', in Balkanalzsis.com, 21 June 2011, available at: www.balkanalysis.com/bosnia/2011/06/21/bosnia%E2%80%99s-vastforeign-financial- assistance-re-examined-statistics-and-results/;
51. see also Peter Uvin, 'The influence of aid in violent conflict situations', OECD Development Assistance Committee, Informal Task Force on Conflict, Peace, and Development Cooperation, 1999, available at: www4.carleton.ca/cifp/docs/archive/synth-fin.pdf.
52. Christophe Girod, 'Bosnia and Herzegovina: tracing missing persons', in International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 32, No. 312, 1996, pp. 390-391.
53. For more information on the challenges faced, see Nick Danziger, Missing Lives, ICRC and Dewi Lewis, 2010.
54. This book tells fifteen individual stories of families whose loved ones went missing during the conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo: 'In limbo they were unable to grieve, to claim inheritance, to sell property, or - most poignantly - to hold a funeral'. Extracts available at: www.icrc.org/eng/ resources/documents/publication/p978-1-904587-87-3.htm.
55. 'Bosnia and Herzegovina: 10 years on, thousands still missing', ICRC, 2005, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/ bihmissingfactsmay2005.htm (last visited 4 February 2013).
56. For example, the need to standardise the forensic response to the issue of the missing was put forward in Stephen Cordner and Helen McKelvie, 'Developing standards in international forensic work to identify missing persons', in International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 84, No. 848, December 2002, pp. 867-884.
57. Morris Tidball-Binz, 'Forensic investigations into the missing: recommendations and operational best practices', in Forensic Anthropology and Medicine: Complementary Sciences from Recovery to Cause of Death, Totowa, 2006, pp. 387-388.
58. 'The missing: action to resolve the problem of people unaccounted for as a result of armed conflict or internal violence and to assist their families', in International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 85, No. 849, March 2003, pp. 188-193.
59. Strategy of the ICRC Forensic Services and Plan of Action 2009-2014, ICRC, Geneva, 2010, p. 3.
60. ICRC, Missing Persons on the Territory of Former Yugoslavia, newsletter, April 2008, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/missing- newsletter-0408.pdf.
61. Guiding Principles/Model Law on the Missing, ICRC, Geneva, 2009, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/model-law-missing- 300908.htm.
62. Reference is made to the guidelines on mechanisms in Annual Report 2011, above note 21, p. 56.
63. ICRC, 'ICRC receives award for contributions to humanitarian forensic sciences', press release, 14 September 2011, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/ resources/documents/news-release/2011/forensics-news-2011-09-14.htm.
64. Strategy of the ICRC Forensic Services and Plan of Action 2009-2014, above note 59, pp. 3-4.
65. While the Forensic Strategy is an internal ICRC document, it is referenced in the Annual Report 2011, above note 21.
66. In addition, the early days of the ICRC's forensic services unit are similarly described in The Missing: ICRC Progress Report as follows: 'The core activities of the ICRC forensic experts include: needs assessments and operational support for ICRC field activities related to human remains and forensic science; development and dissemination of ICRC guidelines; training and networking with forensic experts and institutions worldwide'. ICRC, The Missing: ICRC Progress Report, Geneva, 2006, p. 14. This was published in 2006, and the emphasis on training, networking and dissemination of guidelines is in line with the current focus on capacity-building and dissemination of good practices.
67. 'Forensic science and humanitarian action', ICRC website, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/what-we-do/forensic/overview-forensic.htm.
68. ICRC, The Ante-Mortem/Post-Mortem Database: An Information Management Application for Missing Persons/Forensic Data, ICRC, Geneva, 2012, p. 2, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/report/ante-mortem-post- mortem-database-report.htm.
69. Accompanying the Families of Missing Persons: A Practical Handbook, ICRC, Geneva, 2013, p. 12.
70. See, for example, The Experience Project, a website dedicated to shared experiences, where individuals can join online conversations with others who have experienced similar things. Conversations include 'I lost a loved one to suicide', available at: www.experienceproject.com/groups/Lost-A-Loved-One-To- Suicide/117382.
71. ICMP Online Inquiry Center, available at: www.ic-mp.org/fdmsweb/index. php?w=intro&l=en.
72. For example, the ICRC regularly shares practices through contributions to UN reports. Recent examples include: UN Human Rights Council, Report by the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on Best Practices in the Matter of Missing Persons, UN Doc. A/HRC/16/70, 21 February 2011, available at: www.refworld.org/docid/4d8b43002.html;
73. and UN General Assembly, Report of the UN Secretary-General on Missing Persons, UN Doc. A/67/267, 8 August 2012, available at: http://daccess-dds-ny. un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N12/456/33/PDF/N1245633.pdf?OpenElement.
74. A. Stoddard, above note 3.
75. For a discussion on the tension between humanitarian objectives and the pursuit of justice, see Eva Wortel, 'Humanitarians and their moral stance in war: the underlying values', in International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 91, No. 876, 2009.
76. Anne-Marie La Rosa, 'The missing and transitional justice: the right to know and the struggle against impunity', in Report of the Second Universal Meeting of National Committees on International Humanitarian Law: Legal Measures and Mechanisms to Prevent Disappearances, to Establish the Fate of Missing Persons, and to Assist Their Families, ICRC, Geneva, 2007, p. 155, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/publications/icrc-002-0924.pdf.
77. For a discussion on the challenges associated with coordinating humanitarian action, see also Max Stephenson Jr., 'Making humanitarian relief networks more effective: operational coordination, trust and sense making', in Disasters, Vol. 29, No. 4, 2005, pp. 337-350.