International Missing Persons Day – a global problem with a human face

Disappearances are one of the most painful and long-lasting consequences of conflicts, disasters, violence, and migration. They affect hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, and behind each number, there is someone's story, drama, and hope. According to the Family Links Network data, in 2024, families reported over 94,000 new cases of disappearance. In total, about 284,400 people are currently recorded. It's as if all the residents of Lublin had disappeared – and no one knows the answer to where they are.

Every disappearance means not only pain and uncertainty for the family but also a range of difficulties – legal, administrative, economic, or psychological. Without answers, it is hard to close a lasting chapter of life. That is why the work of those who seek answers every day is so important.

The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), takes actions daily to find missing people and support their families. In 2024, the fate of over 16,000 people was established, and more than 7,000 returned to their loved ones. Nearly 2.3 million phone calls broke the silence that had lasted for months, and sometimes years, in many families.

This work is ongoing – every minute four people separated from their families receive the opportunity to talk with their loved ones, every hour the fate of two missing persons is established, and every day 20 people are reunited with family members. Behind this effort is also a solid legal foundation that obliges states to act.

The right to information about the fate of loved ones is not a privilege but an obligation that states must respect. Protecting individuals from disappearance and establishing the fate of the missing are obligations arising from international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights. They oblige states and parties to a conflict to prevent family separations, treat all individuals humanely, seek the missing, identify, and treat the deceased with dignity.

These obligations do not cease after armed conflicts end – they are also crucial in peace processes and the rebuilding of destroyed social ties.

In Poland, the search efforts are carried out by the National Information and Search Office of the Polish Red Cross – the only institution in the country operating within the international Family Links Network. The office was established with the founding of the Polish Red Cross in 1919, continuing the tasks that began a year earlier, immediately after regaining independence when assistance was organized for families of Polish soldiers fighting on the fronts of World War I. Initially, it dealt with registering casualties and searching for Poles separated by military actions.

Today, the National Information and Search Office of the Polish Red Cross handles cases related to family separations due to wars, natural disasters, migration, and other crises, remaining an important link in the international search system.

The National Information and Search Office collaborates with search offices in other countries and with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

More information about the office's activities can be found at: https://pck.pl/co-robimy/kbiip. Words that oblige

Światowy Dzień Osób Zaginionych to nie tylko moment refleksji – to także apel o konkretne działania. Każdy z nas może wesprzeć organizacje zajmujące się poszukiwaniami, nagłaśniać problem, a przede wszystkim pamiętać, że każda zaginiona osoba to czyjś syn, córka, matka, ojciec czy przyjaciel.