Social

Home page

Social

ICRC to launch new project for clarifying fate of persons missing in Karabakh war â€“ INTERVIEW

ICRC to launch new project for clarifying fate of persons missing in Karabakh war â€“ <font color=red>INTERVIEW </font>

02 December 2011 15:51 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva â€“ APA. APAâ€™s interview with Cherine Pollini, Head of the Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Azerbaijan

-How many missing persons have been registered by the International Committee of the Red Cross? How many of them are Azerbaijani?

-Since the conflict started, the ICRC has supported the government bodies in clarifying the fate of the people missing in connection with the conflict. About 4600 missing people have been registered in connection with Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Approximately 3700 of them are from Azerbaijan. According to the agreement reached with the relevant government bodies in 2008-2010, ante-mortem data about the missing people have been collected. Up to now, ante-mortem data have been collected about 3650 missing people in Azerbaijan. Collecting ante-mortem data aims to help clarify the fate of the missing people. Moreover, according to the agreement reached with the government agencies of Azerbaijan, another program will be launched next year. This is connected with the collection of the DNA samples from the relatives of the missing persons.

-Could you go into the details of the project? Which government bodies will participate in the project?

-Ante-mortem data are collected basing on the physical characteristics, such as clothing worn prior to his or her disappearance, dental records, fracture of bone etc. These data help identify the persons having similar features. Blood samples will be taken from four close relatives of the missing persons. The Ministry of Health will collect and store these samples. We will closely cooperate with the State Committee on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons. The DNA samples must be stored by seriously observing the necessary requirements. These samples will be stored at the laboratory of the Forensic Medical Examination and Pathological Anatomy Union of the Ministry of Health. The collected samples along with the ante-mortem data will help clarify the fate of the missing persons.

-How will the missing persons be identified?

-It is hard to say when the identification of the missing persons will start. When exhumation is made, both ante-mortem data and the DNA samples we collected will help much identify those persons. Maybe there will be alive among the missing people. Note that the same work is carried out in Armenia. The difference is that the number of missing people in Azerbaijan is greater and it will take much time. In general, the project on collecting DNA samples will be implemented within 2 or 3 years.

- DNA analysis is considered expensive enough. Does Azerbaijan have corresponding labs for carrying out these analyses?

-It is up to the governmental bodies to clarify the fate of the missing people. They will pass decision on carrying out the analyses in the country or abroad. Anyway these analyses must be carried out. If there is no opportunity to carry out these analyses in the country, certainly, the analyses will be carried out in another place.

- According to the recent reports of Azerbaijan State Committee on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, it was determined that 13 people, who were registered in the State Committee as missing, are alive and have been taken captive in the territories occupied by Armenians. Was the ICRC addressed regarding this fact? Did the ICRC address to the opposite side for searching those people?

- We werenâ€™t addressed with regard to these 13 people. May be those 13 people are in the list of missing people and their families addressed us. There were such cases that the governmental bodies of each of the sides addressed us saying its citizen is in the territory of another country and we addressed another side concerning these appeals. But we donâ€™t know who these 13 people are, what their names are. At the same time, there are certain confidential issues and we discuss them with the governmental bodies and do not make them public.

-Will the project on collecting DNA samples be implemented for the first time, or does the ICRC have such experience? In general, what makes it necessary to use the DNA analyses?

- We have implemented the project on collecting DNA samples in the other countries, but on a very small scale. It has never reached the scale considered in the project which will be implemented in Azerbaijan in 2012. In general, DNA analysis is a new technology and will give an opportunity to identify missing people more precisely. Thatâ€™s why we support the use of this technology which enables the more precise identification.