No:175/22, Information of the Press Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the participation of Azerbaijan in the first meeting of the “Global Alliance for the Missing Persons” established at the initiative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Swiss side

On May 11, 2021, at the initiative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Swiss side, the “Global Alliance for the Missing Persons” was established, and Azerbaijan joined the initiative in January of this year at the invitation of the ICRC. It should be noted that our country joined the alliance on the basis of an appeal by ICRC President Peter Maurer, emphasizing Azerbaijan's commitment to international obligations to clarify the fate of thousands of people missing as a result of the conflict, cooperation with the ICRC in the field of data collection on missing persons since the 1990s, and in the field of technical support, as well as the importance of the role played by Azerbaijan at the global level as the main co-author of the UN General Assembly Resolution on Missing Persons.

The first meeting of the Global Alliance was held on April 7, 2022. The meeting was attended by representatives of 10 countries that have joined the Alliance so far (Azerbaijan, Argentina, Estonia, Kuwait, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, the Republic of Korea and Switzerland).

The event was opened by ICRC Vice-President Gilles Carbonnier, who noted that the number of missing people worldwide has increased by 75 % to 173,800 over the past five years, and said that the Global Alliance was established to draw attention to the problem at the global level and to promote the implementation of global commitments in this area.

Our country was represented at the event by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our diplomatic mission in Geneva. Participants of the event were informed about the missing people in Azerbaijan, the work done at the national level to determine their fate, the identification of the remains of people killed in Bashlibel as a result of massacre after the liberation of our lands from occupation, the discovery of mass graves in Dashalty, Edilli, Sirkhavand and Farrukh villages, on the impediment to the discovery of remnants of the severe landmines contamination of areas, Azerbaijan's efforts to draw international attention to this problem, and the UN General Assembly Resolution on Missing Persons.

The hope was expressed that the Global Alliance would draw global attention to the importance of clarifying the fate of missing persons and make a significant contribution to cooperation in this area.