Forense

MISSING PEOPLE, DNA ANALYSIS AND IDENTIFICATION OF HUMAN REMAINS
A guide to best practice in armed conflicts and other situations of armed violence Second edition 2009

REFERENCE

International Committee of the Red Cross 19, avenue de la Paix 1202 Geneva, Switzerland T + 41 22 734 60 01 F + 41 22 733 20 57 E-mail: shop@icrc.org www.icrc.org © ICRC, November 2009

MISSING PEOPLE, DNAANALYSIS AND IDENTIFICATION OF HUMAN REMAINS
A guide to best practice in armed conflicts and other situations of armed violence Second edition 2009

Missing people, dna analysis and identification of huMan reMains

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foreword

Foreword
Armed conflict, whether war or widespread political violence, often results in the disappearance of large numbers of people. They may be forcibly displaced;they may be arrested and denied contact with friends or families; they may be military personnel “missing in action”; or they may be victims of massacres. Whatever the reason for their disappearance, the combination of lack of news and uncertainty about their whereabouts can be unbearable for the families affected. More often than not in these situations, those who are missing are dead. The onlyrelief for their families is receiving credible confirmation of the death and knowing that the remains of their relative have been or can be treated with dignity, in keeping with their culture and religious beliefs. The proper recovery and identification of human remains is thus a fundamental part of the healing process for families and even whole communities.1 The development of forensic science,including DNA analysis, has led to the possibility that families of missing people will not only be able to establish the fate of their missing relative, but also that any remains will be identified and returned to the families. Before the advent of DNA analysis, forensic haemogenetics had been used as an element of human identification programmes, most notably in Argentina in the 1980s, but thescope of such analysis was limited. In recent years, the ability to recover and analyse minute amounts of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from biological material has revolutionized forensic science. Since the first DNA profile was produced in 1984, the development of DNA analysis has been dramatic: it has become more sensitive, more discriminating, less costly and faster. The same technology thatallows samples
1 This fact was highlighted in a study launched by the ICRC on missing persons and their families. During 2002 and 2003, a series of meetings was held, convening international experts with experience in many different contexts. Two of the meetings focused on the role of forensic science. This document builds on the recommendations from these meetings and the experience gainedsince. See: ICRC, The Missing and their Families: Documents of Reference, ICRC, Geneva 2004. (Available via: www.icrc.org [Accessed 10 July 2009]).

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Missing people, dna analysis and identification of huMan reMains

recovered from a crime scene to be matched to a suspect can be used to match human remains to the biological relatives of missing individuals. Initially, in the early 1990s, DNAanalysis was used to identify one or a few individuals, usually following presumptive identifications using other methods. It is now routinely used to assist in the identification of tens or hundreds of individuals, often following transport accidents, and is increasingly being applied to help identify victims of armed conflicts and other situations of armed violence. Guidance for managing humanremains in post-conflict and post-disaster environments can be found in other publications produced by or with assistance from the ICRC.2,3 This guide offers an overview of forensic human identification and the use of DNA analysis in both small and large-scale identification programmes. In addition, the guide offers some practical advice on the selection, collection and storage of biological...