ICRC to publish names of 800 missing persons

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has sought to clarify the status of 800 missing persons whose name it will be publishing shortly.

The list of names of more than 800 persons reported missing by their families is to be published on February 15 in Nepal by the ICRC in an attempt to obtain information on their fate.

"ICRC has the names of more than 800 people who remain unaccounted for in the wake of the armed conflict. The families of these missing persons suffer intolerably from not knowing what has happened to their loved ones and they have the right to know", stated Mary Werntz, Head of the Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Nepal.

Under international humanitarian law, all parties to the conflict must take all feasible measures to account for persons reported missing as a result of the armed conflict and must provide their families with any information they have on their fate.

"I appeal to all families anxiously waiting for news of their missing relatives and to anyone else who may know about the fate of a person who remains unaccounted for to check our list. If your missing relative is not on the list, or if you have any information about the fate of anyone on the list, please contact the nearest Red Cross office and make sure it is informed" said Werntz.

"Since it began work in Nepal in 1998, the ICRC has regularly submitted all requests concerning missing persons to the parties to the armed conflict and demanded that families be told about the fate of these persons. The ICRC and the Nepalese Red Cross are firmly committed to pursuing their efforts on behalf of the families and to seeking to alleviate their suffering," states a press release issued by ICRC on Wednesday.