Engaging non-state armed groups to protect missing people
Obligations and practices of non-State armed groups to protect the separated, missing and dead – a new ICRC report
Across today’s armed conflicts, hundreds of thousands of families are separated. Loved ones have gone missing. Parents do not know where their children are, and wives, husbands and children wait for news that may never come.
In 2025 alone, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) registered more than 178,300 new missing person cases across the world – the highest yearly increase in at least two decades. Behind each number is a family living with uncertainty, unable to mourn, unable to move on, and often unable to access basic rights without proof of what happened to those they love.
Not knowing the fate and whereabouts of a loved one, also known as ambiguous loss – the pain of not knowing if a loved one is alive or dead - is one of the deepest and most invisible wounds of armed conflict.
Clarifying the fate and whereabouts of missing people is both a humanitarian imperative and a legal obligation under international humanitarian law (IHL). All parties to armed conflict - states and non-state parties alike - must take concrete steps to prevent people from going missing, to search for those who do, and to inform families accordingly.
A practical study grounded in experience
The ICRC’s new study, Non-State Armed Groups and the Separated, Missing and Dead: Obligations Under International Humanitarian Law and Examples of How to Implement Them, brings together law and practice with concrete considerations about how non-state armed groups (NSAGs) can protect family life, prevent people from going missing, protect those who go missing, and treat the deceased with dignity – no matter which side of the conflict they were on.
The report restates the IHL framework applicable in non-international armed conflicts and presents concrete examples of how non-State armed groups have implemented their obligations. It draws on the ICRC’s operational experience and reflects the observed practice, reported practice and doctrine of 64 NSAGs that are currently parties to non-international armed conflicts or have been so since the 1960s.
The report shows what respect for the law looks like in practice and the impact simple, achievable steps can make on families who are separated by war, searching for a missing loved one.
The report comes with a pocket card designed to be carried by non-state armed groups, setting out a selection of IHL rules that every member of a non-State armed group should know and follow.
What the law says: Eleven rules for NSAGs
International humanitarian law sets out clear obligations for non-State armed groups regarding people separated because of the conflict, the missing and deceased. The pocketcards present these obligations in eleven rules, and the study adds practical examples of ways to implement them.
- If possible, warn civilians of fighting and allow families to flee together.
- Allow people under your control to search for and contact family members.
- Provide families who ask about their missing loved ones with any information you have.
- Record who is involved in the fighting, including details such as their name and height, plus any scars or tattoos. If possible, give each fighter at least one identification item, such as an ID disc (or “dog tag”), an ID card, or their name and/or number on their uniform. After each operation, record who was killed or captured or went missing.
- Make a list of all detainees with their full name and date of birth, plus rank and service number for soldiers, as well as when and where they were captured and who is responsible for their detention. Inform the ICRC about any detainees you hold.
- Allow detainees to contact their families and help them do so.
- After each operation, and whenever possible, search for, collect and evacuate all the dead, no matter who they are (friend or enemy).
- Protect the dead from being mutilated. Do not remove or steal their personal belongings.
- Return the dead and their belongings to their families, for instance with the help of the ICRC or by allowing authorities to recover remains in territory under your control.
- If you cannot evacuate the dead, bury them respectfully, with one body per grave or with bodies separated in common graves. Record all available identification information prior to burial and mark the location of the grave. Keep records of all burial sites.
- Search for missing persons and share any information you have about missing enemy soldiers or civilians with the enemy and with the ICRC.
ICRC recommendations
Based on the study’s findings, the ICRC makes two key recommendations:
- Put systems in place to record and share information
Parties to non-international armed conflicts should:
• establish a single process to record information on detainees and the dead
• designate a clear point of contact for families searching for relatives
• use neutral intermediaries, such as the ICRC, when needed to collect and transmit information and inform families of the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones
- Address the missing and dead in peace processes
The search for missing people and the recovery and identification of the dead should be included in truce, ceasefire and peace negotiations and agreements.
Supporting concrete action
It is hoped that this study and 'pocket card' may provide evidence-based examples of how NSAGs can protect family unity, prevent people from going missing, and help finding people reported missing. It may also be of interest for states that consider supporting non-state parties to armed conflicts, humanitarian organizations working for the protection of missing and dead people, and researchers working on related issues.
