EUPM'S General Coppola visits ICMP in Tuzla

"ICMP has developed into a standard-setting organization."

During his first visit to the facilities of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in Tuzla today, the Head of the European Union Police Mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italian Carabinieri General Vincenzo Coppola said that the work of ICMP has shown it to be a standard-setting organization worldwide.

"I have remained deeply impressed by the highly professional and holistic approach to the identification of victims of crimes committed during the war," said General Coppola. "ICMP has developed into a standard-setting organisation not only for the countries of the former Yugoslavia but also globally."

Accompanied by ICMP's Director-General, Kathryne Bomberger, General Coppola visited ICMP's center where all blood reference samples collected by ICMP from relatives of the missing and all bone samples received from government authorities are processed. After being bar-coded they are sent to ICMP laboratories in Sarajevo and Banja Luka for DNA analysis. Once extracted, the DNA profiles are entered into ICMP's database and matched. The General also visited the Podrinje Identification Project (PIP), which was specifically created to assist in the identification of persons missing from the 1995 fall of Srebrenica.

"The work of the ICMP underscores that there is expertise in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the fields of crime scene management and forensics. Activities of the police and the judiciary relevant to locating, recovering and identifying persons missing from the conflict are supported by ICMP's state-of-the-art technical facilities and together they play an important role in building confidence and trust among the different communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As part of EUPM's strategy I will aim to create stronger bridges between our partners in the police, in particular SIPA and ICMP in this regard."

"I am delighted that the General visited ICMP's facilities. The role of the police in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at all levels is a very important one, both in terms of finding information on missing persons, protecting clandestine graves and conducting proper scene of crime management," said Kathryne Bomberger, the ICMP Director-General.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank EUPM and the police of this country for their hard work and dedication to assisting with the issue of missing persons," she added.

ICMP assists governments in the process of locating, recovering and identifying missing persons through the use of forensic archaeology, anthropology and DNA science. ICMP made its first DNA match on November 16, 2001 and up until today some 86,250 blood samples have been taken from relatives of missing people, and out of some 40,000 people missing from the former Yugoslavia, over 14,000 have been identified, of whom more than 5,000 are from the 1995 fall of Srebrenica. ICMP provides policy assistance to governments in the establishment of appropriate laws and mechanisms to address the missing persons issue and it strengthens the ability of civil society groups and family members of victims to engage in this important humanitarian and human rights issue.

The work of ICMP is supported by the Governments of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Switzerland, Greece, Germany, the Holy See, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. The C.S. Mott Foundation provides funding to ICMP for the "Paths to Reconciliation" project.

For further information, or for photographs, please contact Jasmina Mameledžija on +387 33 218 660 or +387 61 225 239, email press@ic-mp.org, or visit our website at www.ic-mp.org

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com

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