Balancing risks and opportunities: New technologies and the search for missing people
By the end of 2024, more than 284,000 people from all over the world were registered as missing with the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement Family Links Network, and this is only a fraction of the true number of missing people out there. To address this pressing issue, the Symposium on New Technologies and the Missing, including Victims of Enforced Disappearance, was held on June 24–25 in Geneva, bringing together search practitioners from international, state-level, and civil society-led mechanisms alongside leading technology experts from academia and the private sector.
The issue of missing people, including victims of enforced disappearance, is one of the most devastating and long-lasting consequences of armed conflict, violence, disasters and dangerous migration. Each unresolved case leaves behind a family living in anguish, trapped in the pain of not knowing what happened to their loved one. This uncertainty can prolong trauma, deepen grievances, and widen divisions within communities, even long after the violence has ended. Addressing the issue of missing people is therefore essential to help societies heal and rebuild trust.
In 2024, the Family Links Network, which brings together the ICRC and 191 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, worked with affected families to locate more than 16,000 people and reunite more than 7,000 people with their families. Every minute, the network helps four people that have been separated from their families by conflict, violence, migration and disasters to call their loved ones and every hour it clarifies the fate and whereabouts of two missing people.
To support the ongoing search efforts, the Symposium on New Technologies and the Missing, including Victims of Enforced Disappearance co-organized by the ICRC Central Tracing Agency and the ICRC Global Cyber Hub, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), Luxembourg Aid & Development, and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in association with the Global Alliance for the Missing, convened over 100 representatives from state authorities, search practitioners, investigative institutions, academia, family associations, prosecutors, NGOs, and the private sector.
Divided into eight working groups, participants explored specific topics related to the opportunities and challenges of using new and emerging technologies in the search for and identification of missing persons, including victims of enforced disappearance. In the following section we take a closer look at the working session on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning and Predicative Analytics.
H.E. Mr. Marc Bichler, Permanent Representative of Luxembourg to the United Nations Office in Geneva, giving an opening keynote speech at the plenary session of the Symposium on New Technologies and the Missing, including Victims of Enforced Disappearance on 24 June 2025.
Scaling search capacity through AI and data analytics
Rapidly evolving technologies—especially, but not exclusively, in the digital realm—offer important new ways to support those searching for missing persons. In many contexts, the amount of potentially useful data for finding missing persons has grown significantly in recent years. This growth is largely driven by the rise of digital tools, the availability of online information such as social media, geospatial imagery, and archives. As a result, there is often more information than human investigators and search teams can review and handle.
AI and predictive analytics can help sift through large volumes of data, identify useful information, and detect patterns and connections within and between cases. This helps search teams focus their resources and improves both processing time and efficiency. Hannah Grigg, Director of Programs at the Syria Justice and Accountability Center and participant in the Symposium, illustrates the challenges in the Syrian context:
“We have over a million videos, well over a million government administrative documents, interviews, and a lot of other data. This is why tech is a big part of what we do. We have designed a database software called BIONET, specifically designed to deal with large amounts of human rights documentation, which allows us to automate certain features of our analysis.”
Navigating the risks of AI and other innovations in the search for missing persons
Despite the benefits of using new technologies such as AI in the search for missing persons, these tools also come with significant risks. These range from legal and ethical concerns to systemic and operational challenges, with potentially serious consequences for searchers, families of missing persons, and other data subjects.
Risks related to the use of AI, machine learning, and predictive analytics include the implementation of unvalidated or poorly validated models, misuse for criminal purposes, algorithmic bias, privacy breaches, and broader data protection issues. Risk mitigation requires awareness, robust and regularly updated safeguards, training and capacity-building for operators, and legislative frameworks that keep pace with rapidly advancing technologies.
Strengthening cross-sectoral sharing and learning
Addressing the issue of missing people is one of the most complex humanitarian challenges that demands collective action. A wide range of actors and disciplines are involved in exploring how new technologies can support the search for missing persons and those affected by forced displacement. However, many of these efforts remain siloed, with limited cross-sector collaboration.
Recognizing the importance of cross-sector and interdisciplinary dialogue at the intersection of cybersecurity, data protection, and humanitarian action, the event is part of a broader Symposium series initiated by the ICRC Global Cyber Hub in Luxembourg. This recurring series, with varying thematic and regional focuses, aims to provide an open and secure space to explore issues critical to upholding principled humanitarian action in the digital age.
