A model of inter-governmental cooperation to tackle the issue of missing migrants

Two characteristics come to the fore in relation to the global migration crisis: the first is confusion and the second is ambivalence.

Confusion because there is a shortage of accurate and actionable statistics.

{mosads}Ambivalence because in many cases, migrants are viewed as an existential threat to the societies they pass through and the societies where they seek safety and support.

This has hampered the development and implementation of an effective and principled global response to irregular migration. Yet, confusion and ambivalence can be addressed and sensible steps can be taken by states acting in concert.

Irregular migration, by its very nature, is difficult to document. Migrants routinely travel without papers or with false documentation; overcrowded dinghies run by people traffickers are clearly not subject to conventional record keeping; and families of the missing may be reluctant to report a disappearance for fear of prosecution.

There is a view that some states simply cannot afford to give migrants extensive assistance and that they are within their rights to turn people away even if this puts these people in potentially fatal jeopardy. But this brutal argument does not stand up to legal scrutiny.

The fact is that states around the world have mandatory obligations under domestic and international law to protect migrants. The European Convention on Human Rights and the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons place governments under obligations that apply in many cases to the phenomenon of missing migrants, and under international law more generally, states are obliged to uphold the human rights of families of the missing.

The Mediterranean is the epicenter of a global crisis – refugees and migrants are going missing in parts of Africa, across south Asia and, of course, on the long and dangerous journey from Central America through Mexico and into the United States. The scale of fatalities represents a fundamental challenge to stability and the rule of law, and it demands a measured, legal and effective response.

On 11 June, at the initiative of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), representatives from Cyprus, Greece, Malta and Italy will meet in Rome to discuss measures that governments can begin implementing together in order to address the issue of missing migrants more effectively. This is a historic step because it will be the first time that governments will have undertaken a cooperative initiative to account for missing migrants.

ICMP is proposing that Mediterranean countries assess the capacity they already have – in terms of records and databases, for example – and examine how this capacity can be shared and enhanced. As well as exploring ways of improving the gathering and sharing of statistics, the cooperative process will seek to improve ways of identifying how and why persons go missing on migration routes. It will also examine procedures to identify missing migrants, including using DNA to reunite families, as well as procedures that can help to uphold the rights of surviving relatives of the missing.

This initiative can point the way to a practical and effective systemic approach – and when a model of inter-governmental cooperation is developed in the Mediterranean, it can be applied in other parts of the world where large numbers of people are going missing.

Thomas Miller served as the U.S. ambassador to Greece and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as the Special Cyprus Coordinator. He has been Chairman of the International Commission on Missing Persons since May 2011. ICMP is a treaty-based international organization with headquarters in The Hague. Its mandate is to secure the cooperation of governments and others in locating and identifying missing persons from conflict, human rights abuses, disasters, organized crime, irregular migration and other causes and to assist them in doing so. It is the only international organization tasked exclusively to work on the issue of missing persons.