Home
Reuniting families
Conflict and disasters leave more than physical wounds: in the turmoil, panic and terror, family members can be separated in minutes, sometimes leading to long years of anguish and uncertainty about the fate of children, spouses or parents. Trying to locate people, and put them back into contact with their relatives, is a major challenge for the ICRC and the national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. The work includes tracing people, exchanging family messages, reuniting families and seeking to clarify the fate of those who remain missing. Highlights
Gaza: broken family ties
DR Congo: 70 children, one aircraft and many happy families
Namibia: helping families visit their loved ones in detention
Somalia/Kenya: preventing loss of family ties for refugees with a phone call
Liberia/Côte d'Ivoire: Red Cross steps up work to restore family links
Bangladesh: Bangladesh Red Crescent Society helps workers returning from Libya
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ferdinand Kalenga, bearer of good news
Brazil: isolated families in Rio's mountains reconnect with their relatives
Haiti earthquake: one year on, the ICRC is still reuniting children with their parents Facts and Figures
In 2010, the ICRC:
- handled more than 305,000 Red Cross messages enabling family members to exchange news – 51,000 of these messages were to or from detainees;
- facilitated 21,000 phone calls between family members;
- registered over 2,000 unaccompanied/separated children, including 627 former child soldiers;
- reunited more than 1,600 children with their families;
- published the names of more than 64,000 people via www.familylinks.icrc.org who were either trying to contact relatives and friends or being sought by relatives.
Over 832,000 people contacted ICRC offices around the world for advice or services related to protection and family links.
Reference documents
In images More images
FilmCôte d'Ivoire: lost children return home
Photo galleryCôte d'Ivoire/Liberia: Ivorian children rejoin their familiesPublications More publications
Restoring links between dispersed family members 
The need to know: restoring links between dispersed family members International Review of the Red Cross More articles
Red Cross Red Crescent Magazine
-
Share
|
Back to top
