Families of Missing Persons exchange experiences, discuss challenges, and support each other in an international conference

By: Michael Mike

Families of Missing Persons from Nigeria participated in the 3rd edition of the International Conference for Families of Missing Persons, which took place between 21-23 November 2023.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hosted two conference hubs in Nigeria, in Maiduguri (Borno State) and Yola (Adamawa State) respectively, where families attended online global and regional peer-to-peer sessions and were granted opportunities to meet and exchange with other families from around the world whose loved ones went missing in similar circumstances.

Families gained inspiration on how they can continue to build and strengthen their family associations. Beyond supporting one another, family associations usually are those that raise awareness and advocate on the issue of the missing.

Engaging with peers brought useful insights on how families can be more strongly seen and heard by their peers, communities, and authorities. Families shared what it means to each of them to live while searching, and how to cope with the emotional, legal, economic, and social challenges, particularly when having a missing relative during an ongoing armed conflict.

“I still have hopes that my loved one will be found someday, and we will meet again,” said Sadiya Abubakar a member of the Family Association in Damare internally displaced community. “With the experiences shared in the conference I discovered that we are not alone on facing the pains of not knowing the fate of our family members who have been missing for long”.

The families also got the chance to meet with member states to the Global Alliance for the Missing, which Nigeria is member to. The Global Alliance for the missing is a group of states that has committed to raise awareness on the issue of missing persons and to collectively engage diplomatically on the issue.

A family member from Nigeria, the only member state from Africa, made a statement on behalf of the African continent, outlying the importance for other African States to join the Alliance. The statement urged states to work together to facilitate search and address the needs of families, adopt legislations on the missing persons and include the families in the process to ensure belonging, ownership, transparency, and accountability by ensuring access to information on how and where families can engage with authorities on the issue of the missing.

The conference brought together more than 700 families of missing persons from 50 different countries, in a hybrid format. Families physically gathered in 44 local “conference hubs” and joined multilingual online sessions tackling the most critical challenges they face around the world.
“The conference was an opportunity for families to gain the understanding that they are stronger together,” said Anne-Sofie Stockman, ICRC`s delegate in charge of searching for the Missing.

“Families continue to show extraordinary will to never give up searching for their loved ones, however long it takes.”
The ICRC works together with the Nigerian Red Cross Society to help and support families of the missing in their pursuit for answers. So far this year, we’ve been able to help locate more than 460 people missing due to the conflict.

Families of Missing Persons exchange experiences, discuss challenges, and support each other in an international conference