The International Commission on the Missing Persons (ICMP) is an international intergovernmental organization, based in The Hague, the Netherlands.
ICMP works with governments, civil society organizations, justice institutions, international organizations and others throughout the world to address the issue of people who have gone missing as a result of armed conflict, human rights abuses, disasters, organized crime, irregular migration and other causes.
ICMP was one of the organisations, which assisted in identifying MH17 victims. The Commission underlined the legislative and institutional measures that may be taken to strengthen Ukraine’s ability to search for and identify missing persons. Many of these recommendations have already been taken into consideration before Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
The ICMP is not a public or humanitarian organisation and it acts on the basis of intergovernmental agreements. The organisation puts an emphasis on such aspects as justice and prosecution of those responsible for missing persons.
According to the Director of the ICMP European Program Matthew Holliday, in April 2022 the government of Ukraine referred to the organisation with a request for urgent help.
30 August 2023 ICMP and the National Police of Ukraine signed the Memorandum of Cooperation.
It aims to enable the Main Investigative Department of the NPU to use the Integrated Data Management System (iDMS) developed by ICMP to process data to locate, reunify and identify people who have gone missing as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
18 October 2023 ICMP signed the Memoranda of Cooperation and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
It will support efforts to enhance investigations into missing persons cases, including a DNA-led identification process and other techniques used to locate missing persons in cooperation with the relevant domestic institutions.
The Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Ministry of Health creates a framework for ICMP to assist the Ministry with capacity building and provide support in the field of forensic science, particularly, in regard to forensic anthropology, forensic odontology, data collection and processing, and effective case management.