TRC Final Report

Volume 6

Section 4

Chapter 1

Subsection 12

Information management and the processing of files on persons unaccounted for

118. Co-ordination of activities and the sharing information will heighten the effectiveness of the actions taken to ascertain the fate of persons unaccounted for.

Management of human remains and information on the dead

119. The principle responsibility for the proper handling of the dead without adverse distinction, and the provision of information to families with a view to preventing anxiety and uncertainty, lies with government authorities and armed groups . Measures that can be taken include:

a ensuring that all feasible measures be taken to identify the human remains of those who died and to record their identity;

b avoiding obstruction of, interference with or impediments to the identification of human remains ;

c issuing death certificates;

d ensuring that all involved respect the legal rules and professional ethics applicable to the management, exhumation and identification of human remains;

e ensuring that forensic specialists, whenever possible, carry out the exhumation and identification of human remain s ;

f ensuring adequate training for all those collecting information on the dead and handling human re mains ;

g respecting and developing professional ethics and standards of practice for f o rensic specialists working in international contexts, and

h beginning a process of exhumation and identification only once a frame work has been agreed on. That framework should include:

• the establishment of protocols for exhumation, ante-mortem data collection, autopsies and identification based on scientifically valid and reliable methods and technologies and/or customary, clinical or circumstantial evidence that are deemed appropriate and which have been previously adopted by the scientific community;
• appropriate means of associating the communities and families in the exhumation, autopsy and identification procedures, and
• procedures for handing over the human remains to the family.

Support for the families

120. The material, financial, psychological and legal needs faced by families awaiting clarification of their family members’ fate should be addressed by the authorities concerned – when necessary with the support of inter- governmental and non-gove rnmental organisations. Measures that can be taken include:

a providing targeted assistance with the aim, as soon as circumstances allow, of promoting the families’ self-sufficiency ;

b addressing the legal situation of persons unaccounted for and the consequences for family members, including property administration, guardianship and parental authority;

c ensuring that children receive special support and protection, and particularly taking measures to reunite unaccompanied children with their f amil i e s ;

d giving special attention to the needs of single heads of families in the light of the specific circumstances women frequently face in such situations;

e ensuring that families of persons unaccounted for benefit from support programmes in order to adapt to their altered situations and come to terms with events. Psychological support and, whenever necessary and feasible, psychiatric treatment should be provided to those in need. As far as possible, programmes should be built on local health and healing systems, and

f encouraging family networks and associations, in order to provide a forum for mutual support.

Families and mourning

121. Respect for the dead and for local funeral rites support peace and social ord e r. The process whereby families are informed that a family member has died and human remains and/or personal effects are returned needs to be well prepared . In addition:

a the death and the mourning practices of individuals and communities need to be respected in all circumstances, and

b the planning and organisation of commemorations should be left to the families and communities concern e d .