The Hague, 19 June 2025 – Gathering evidence for future war crimes trials and upholding the rights of families of the missing are central pillars in efforts to account for more than 70,000 people missing from Ukraine, speakers emphasized during a major conference organized by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in The Hague today.
Ukrainian and international experts, government representatives, and human rights advocates participated in the discussion, which focused on supporting large-scale investigations into cases of persons missing as a result of the Russian invasion.
Artur Dobroserdov, Commissioner for Persons Missing Under Special Circumstances in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, noted that since May 2023, Ukraine has maintained a Unified Register of Persons Missing in Special Circumstances, which currently contains information on over 70,000 individuals.
“The Register also includes a dedicated section on unidentified human remains, highlighting the scale and complexity of the issue. This centralized system is crucial for tracing missing persons, supporting investigations, and ensuring accountability.”
Mr. Dobroserdov added that identifying thousands of human remains “places a significant burden on forensic, law enforcement, and investigative institutions. Ukraine is actively working to expand the capacity of DNA laboratories and increase the number of genetic experts to meet this growing need. The introduction of the Integrated Data Management System (iDMS), provided by ICMP, is expected to significantly improve data management and identification processes.”
ICMP Director-General Kathryne Bomberger stressed: “Now is the time to ensure that the human rights of survivors are protected and secured. This includes the right to justice, truth, and reparations. This is fundamental to upholding the rule of law and the rules-based international order. Conducting judicial investigations is essential.”
Yuriy Bielousov, Head of the War Crimes Department in Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General’s Office, noted that the digitization—supported by ICMP—of information collected by forensic bureaus across the country has been a major step forward. “We, as prosecutors, need to have all data digitized … as there is a huge volume of data.” Like other speakers, he highlighted a consistent pattern of rights violations perpetrated by the Russian Federation—first in Chechnya, then in Georgia, and now in Ukraine—where specific segments of the population are targeted for enforced disappearance.
Dr. Kateryna Rashevska, Legal Expert with the Regional Center for Human Rights in Kyiv, emphasized the need to strengthen Ukraine’s domestic legal framework: “This includes adopting legislation that allows investigations at the residence of relatives, rather than solely at the location of the disappearance; clarifying how enforced disappearance is addressed under our Criminal Code; and aligning legal definitions with international law. Ukraine must also improve mutual legal assistance and international cooperation to facilitate evidence sharing and support the search for victims. We must take a holistic approach—ensuring that every missing person is found and every perpetrator held accountable. Because we do not merely have a political duty—we have a moral responsibility. Persistent impunity for violations of international humanitarian law fuels further abuses. If we do not stop it now, it will not stop at all.”
While acknowledging that “Ukraine has taken very significant practical steps to establish the legislative, institutional, and operational framework for an effective missing persons process,” Vrinda Grover, a member of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, cautioned: “Ordinary judicial and investigative authorities are seldom adequate to the task. This is due in part to the immense caseload, and in part to a lack of necessary competencies—including appropriate forensic expertise—but also due to institutional design.
Judicial authorities are often more focused on identifying perpetrators than on establishing the fate and whereabouts of victims. The Commission has repeatedly emphasized a broad understanding of accountability—encompassing both judicial and non-judicial mechanisms—as essential to a victim-centric approach.”
Stephen J. Rapp, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, highlighted challenges in preserving battlefield evidence: “Often, evidence gathered in combat zones is of enormous value to the military, but it almost never reaches criminal prosecutors. We are working with the National Police and their collaboration with the military to bring thousands of documents into the evidence management system. Previously, this information was siloed. It is essential to make that material usable for criminal justice purposes and to integrate it into a database addressing missing persons.”
Dr. Thomas Parsons, former Head of Research at the U.S. Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) and former Director of Science and Technology at ICMP, stated: “Every large-scale missing persons context presents both commonalities and unique features that must be clearly understood and carefully addressed. Global experience highlights the importance of centralized mechanisms and shared databases that allow for standardized procedures independent of case-by-case investigations.”
Oleksandra Romantsova, Executive Director of Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties, reflected on historical challenges: “Under the Soviet system, people became accustomed to unexplained disappearances, and there remains a legacy of insufficient trust in law enforcement. We must learn from countries like those in the Balkans or South America. The state bears responsibility for investigations—it’s a massive undertaking, particularly during ongoing hostilities. That’s why the active involvement of families and civil society, those most invested in the process, is crucial.”
Today’s roundtable was the fifth in a series organized by ICMP examining missing persons cases and enforced disappearances resulting from the Russian invasion. The inaugural session in Kyiv (May 2024) addressed institutional and legislative frameworks. Subsequent meetings focused on forensic science and databases (Warsaw, June 2024), the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children (The Hague, June 2024), and reparations for families of the missing (The Hague, co-organized with the Register of Damage for Ukraine, April 2025).
Across all these roundtables, participants have underscored the need for robust, rights-based investigations that produce judicially admissible evidence, enable reparations, and lay the foundation for long-term justice. As long as large numbers of people remain unaccounted for, any eventual political settlement will lack both legitimacy and public support. Accounting for the missing must go hand in hand with holding those responsible for their disappearance accountable.
Members of the ICMP Board of Commissioners participated in the Roundtable following their annual meeting on 18 June. Commissioners also met this morning with representatives of states that are members or observers of ICMP’s Conference of States Parties. This follows a Diplomatic Conference held in December 2024, during which the ICMP Treaty was amended to facilitate membership and funding. Today’s meeting focused on developing a system to support ICMP’s Investigation and Identification Standing Capacity.
ICMP’s Ukraine Program is supported by the governments of Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States.
About ICMP
The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) is a treaty-based intergovernmental organization headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands. Its mandate is to secure the cooperation of governments and other authorities in locating persons missing as a result of conflict, human rights violations, disasters, organized violence, and other causes—and to assist them in doing so.
