A field with 145 new graves behind the former Kocho school (please read also here), where the remains of former Kocho villagers are reburied, having previously been recovered and identified from mass graves around Kocho.
ICMP (International Commission on Missing People) is assisting Iraqi authorities in identifying the remains. In early November 2021, I spoke with Mr Alexander Hug, who heads the ICMP programme in Iraq.
(Until the end of 2018, Alexander Hug headed the OSCE Special-Monitoring-Mission to Ukraine, a conversation about his work in the Ukraine can be read here)
According to the Iraqi government, to date between 250,000 and one million Iraqis are missing. The high number of missing persons in Iraq includes those who have gone missing since Saddam Hussein's time in office - including people missing due to the terror of IS and other militias during the last decade. What has the ICMP so far achieved in its search for missing persons in Iraq ?
Alexander Hug: First, the ICMP is there to build the basic structure in Iraq required for the process of finding, identifying and returning the missing persons to the affected families.
This structure involves various institutions in Iraq and especially two institutions that are directly responsible: Firstly, the Martyrs Foundation, which is responsible for the excavations and the medical and legal department in the Ministry of Health, where capacities and capabilities had to be established. Secondly, ICMP has helped to shape a basic law, namely a law on mass graves, which was revised again in 2015. Iraq is an exception with this law: only a few states have adopted such a set of rules. And thirdly, ICMP has worked with civil society, NGOs and families of missing persons in Iraq to create basic knowledge - albeit very rudimentary, e.g. on how to report missing persons to state institutions.
An Iraqi once told me, we used to have one warlord (Saddam Hussein), today we have thousand warlords. How do you cooperate with the different militias and military leaders in Iraq, considering that there are still conflicts between the regional government in Iraq Kurdistan and the central government in Iraq today?
Alexander Hug: First of all, there is a legal basis that should regulate the cooperation across the whole country. It stipulates, for example, that a committee must be set up before each excavation in which all relevant institutions, including the security institutions, must be represented.
However, access to these sites is then also negotiated and secured on site with the relevant holders of power, e.g. militias.
It is important that security is not only ensured for excavation workers during the excavation work, but that the excavation sites as such are further secured after the excavations so that the remains of the deceased are protected and not exposed to climatic elements or other influences.
How do you avoid being instrumentalised in your work by any group (ethnic, political or religious) in Iraq?
Alexander Hug: It is important to note that the goal of finding and identifying missing persons is the task of the state and not the task of ICMP. ICMP supports the state institutions and therefore our main interest is that the state first creates institutions that are able to find missing persons.
Secondly, that the state creates legal foundations for this work and thirdly, that in this context a permanent dialogue is established between families of missing persons and state institutions.
We also try to transmit requests from civil society to the state and ICMP runs an online platform where any person in the world can report and register missing persons and we will also transmit this information to the state that is concerned.
However, ICMP does not decide which mass graves are dug up, when and where. After the regime of Saddam Hussein, it was clear and the main interest of the state institutions that the priority of the excavations was on the mass graves of the former regime. After 2014, as a result of the crimes of the IS militia, this has changed and now the priority of the state institutions and most international organisations is on the mass graves and missing persons by the IS.
However, it remains true that the state has an obligation to find all missing persons, regardless of the circumstances that led to their disappearance. This responsibility is sometimes related to the right to life: There is an obligation on the state to resolve cases of missing persons.
Does the ICMP also work for example with the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organisation in the West, or the Iranian-backed Hashd-al Shaabi militias?
Alexander Hug: There is cooperation only with state institutions. Where access to mass graves is necessary, access is negotiated by the state agencies on the ground. ICMP does not negotiate on behalf of the state or on its own behalf with non-state entities.
What is the ICMP's position towards the Yazidi women who were abducted, raped and impregnated by Daesh and whose children are considered Muslims according to Iraqi law and are still not accepted by the Yazidi community in Iraq?
Alexander Hug: This issue affects many refugee groups, such as those from the Far East and Africa.
The main task of the ICMP is to establish cooperation within a state and between states. This can also be used when family members of missing persons are no longer in Iraq but, for example, in Germany or the Netherlands and the missing persons are still in mass graves in Iraq and Iraq has no competence to take DNA samples abroad. In such cases, the ICMP can offer assistance to Iraq across national borders.
112 mass graves with remains of those murdered by Daesh have been discovered in Iraq to date. How can the ICMP help to identify the dead?
Alexander Hug: There needs to be a set of legal, technical and financial guidelines necessary for such tasks. ICMP only ever works in support of state institutions and not directly itself, i.e. it does not, for example, carry out excavations itself.
Firstly, ICMP helps Iraq to set up a strategy to ensure that not only the mass graves are found, but also the families of the missing, because both are needed. The ante and post mortem issues need to be planned in parallel so that you don't dig up hundreds of remains but then have no relatives who may be directly linked to those remains. You have to try to collect reports from survivors to locate the family members and at the same time strategically open the mass graves. This is an important task where we are trying to support the state.
We are also encouraging the state to create a central body that brings together all the different institutions that have a legal, defined role in the search for missing persons. At the moment, these are countless ministries, e.g. the Ministry of Health, the Martyrs Foundation, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Defence, the Iraqi Commission for Human Rights and similar structures once again in the Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
At the moment, these structures do not work in a coordinated way, which means, for example, that data on missing persons is collected separately in all these institutions on paper, in Excel spreadsheets or in other databases, but they are not linked to each other. Therefore, within a central structure, which ICMP proposes to the state, there also needs to be a central database. It also needs the technical knowledge, legal basis and equipment, and ICMP also offers support, for example with courses in anthropology and archaeology for the mass graves directorate within the Martyrs Foundation, so that the excavations are carried out professionally, or seminars that educate on measures concerning the protection of privacy and data protection.
There are also courses on DNA extraction from human remains and from the blood of survivors. The ICMP has gained a lot of experience in extracting DNA from old bones that have been exposed to the weather or burnt for a very long time, e.g. the ICMP also assisted in identifying the deceased in connection with the Malaysian Airlines plane MH17 shoot-down in Ukraine.
The ICMP, in close cooperation with UNITAD, the UN Commission for the Investigation of Daesh Crimes and the International Committee of the Red Cross, provides financial support to government institutions to carry out excavations.
In addition, the ICMP tries to support the state with its expertise to create the legal basis and to anchor this process in a national and international legal framework.
The burial ground behind the former school of Kocho in Iraq.
Alexander Hug: The basis is always a central institution that connects all legally mandated institutions in a country and brings them under one roof to coordinate the search for missing persons. This is important and this has worked in other countries where ICMP is active.
There, a commission or umbrella organisation has been created, preferably on a legal basis or also established on an ad hoc basis. This commission should not only bring together institutions, but also regions and should be designed in such an inclusive way that the families of missing persons can also participate.
As already mentioned, a central database is needed so that all data can be brought together. It is very important that the privacy of the data carriers is protected, because it is very sensitive data, especially the DNA. The DNA sequence that is needed to identify a person is very short and other sequences can be used for completely different things. Data security and privacy is an important part of this central database. It also needs the legal basis, which is anchored in national law and is also in line with international law.
It needs close cooperation and exchange with civil society. Iraq lacks specific legislation in this regard.
And there also needs to be an allowance in the state budget for these tasks, so that this work can be carried out efficiently and over a long period. This point is very important, because it shows the extent to which the state is willing to contribute. This does not yet exist sufficiently in Iraq.
There is also a need for campaigns and education among the population and institutions about the search for missing persons, so that people know what their rights and obligations are and about the procedure available for the search for missing persons.
And it is important that the rights of the bereaved are protected; these are, for example, compensation rights. In this work, there is cooperation with UNITAD, which helps state institutions investigate IS crimes. And we also work closely with the Committee of the International Red Cross (ICRC), which has a humanitarian mission. Compared to UNITAD's factually and temporally limited criminal investigation mandate, the ICRC's humanitarian mandate, the ICMP has a broad mandate based on the rule of law.
Are there new technical possibilities that can facilitate or improve the search for missing persons?
Alexander Hug: Yes, there are, especially on the DNA side with strongly decayed bone material. Here the ICMP is working closely with other scientists. There are also new methods of surveying mass graves, where there are often remains of hundreds or even thousands in one grave. When these remains are superimposed, it is very important for the preservation of evidence and identification that the remains belonging to one body are correctly identified.
But despite all the technology, first and foremost the establishment of a central institution, a central database and the political will and funding is crucial. Only then will the use of new, technical tools work better.
For example, DNA technology produces an enormous amount of data and if this is not stored in a central database but only documented offline by the users on some Excel spreadsheet, it does not help in a country as large as Iraq with such a large number of missing persons.
I myself was recently present at the excavations related to the crimes in Badush prison. Badush is a small village near Mosul where IS has been murdering prison inmates. It is estimated that there were about 600 victims buried in a mass grave one kilometre long. When the mass grave directorate was on site, in a desert field at 50 ° C in the shade with 25 very well trained and highly motivated people, despite all the technology and training during this arduous work, 4-5 remains were recovered in one day.
So it is a very tedious work for which the competence, capacity and institutional sustainability needs to be promoted, otherwise the identification of such high numbers of victims will take a very long time. And then besides the excavation of the remains, there is the work to identify the families, the DNA extraction on both sides (ante and post mortem) and then the necessary reunification.
In addition to overcoming a trauma, it is crucial for abductees that perpetrators are held accountable and that they themselves receive justice. What is the role of the ICMP in this regard? Is there support from ICMP in finding the perpetrators and what role does ICMP play in court cases?
Alexander Hug: ICMP supports the Iraqi state in securing evidence that can then be used in trials against possible perpetrators. For example, ICMP also provides technical support to be applied when remains are recovered from mass graves, then transported to the nearest cold storage facility, then to Baghdad to a cold storage facility, then to a laboratory and back to a morgue.
For this process, a clear documentation is crucial, so that at the end, it is recorded which bones from which grave were handled by which person, so that there are no false identifications. This is just one example where the ICMP, with its experience, can offer its assistance to the state in the face of large numbers of missing persons.
In addition to technical training and equipment, financial support, a quality management needs to be introduced in the state laboratories to strengthen the confidence of the population in this system. The families finally receive a coffin with mortal remains that have been assigned, which they themselves cannot or can hardly check, and they must believe in this system, otherwise the social process of finding closure can not succeed either.
Is the Iraqi legal system capable of fully enforcing the ICMP's tasks and objectives?
Alexander Hug: There are legal foundations in Iraq and Iraq is one of the few countries that has mass graves legislation, with ICMP having been instrumental in drafting it.
However, the implementation of this law is a completely different issue. There is also a lack of implementation of international, legal obligations at the national level. And there is also a lack of regulation of important individual issues, such as data security and privacy legislation, this does not exist in Iraq. Often the data owners or data carriers - the survivors - are ignorant of their rights regarding the data they provide. There is also no legislation to harmonise the process, because no centrally responsible institution currently exists.
You travel a lot in Iraq, what is your impression of the refugee camps in Iraqi-Kurdistan, where people have been living in tents for seven years? How do you assess the situation in the Sinjar district, where Daesh committed genocide against the Yazidis and where only a fraction of the Yazidis who fled have returned to this day?
Alexander Hug: Any refugee camp in Iraq and elsewhere can and should only be a temporary measure and every effort must be made to remove this restriction on the lives of internally displaced persons in Iraq.
In many cases, however, these camps have been in existence for a very long time, so that new generations are born and grow up in the camps. This leads to an alienation of these IDPs from their original place of origin and everything must be done to create a possibility for these IDPs to return to their place of origin. This is not yet possible in the case of Sinjar because the whole infrastructure remains broken, there is not yet sufficient water and electricity supply for all the Yazidis and other Iraqi citizens who did flee.
You have worked in other war and conflict areas before, e.g. Bosnia Herzegovina and Ukraine, what distinguishes Iraq, is there something in this country that is new for you a conflict area?
Alexander Hug: In all conflict areas I know, there is a common denominator and that is the suffering of the population. It is the same everywhere and there is no difference. At the end of all these conflicts, whether they are political, ethnic, economic or due to the inability of the state to provide security, the people suffer and there are the same images in my mind, for example of refugee camps, of families with missing persons, of the destroyed infrastructure.
All this is similar in different countries, but what is different is the state response to this situation. In Iraq in particular, it is often the case that sections of the population are left to fend for themselves and can only rely on their own resources or those of their tribes to provide the minimum basis for survival and to create a legal structure for living together that will secure their lives. Since they do not want to rely on security from the state, they tend to rely on their tribe or the militias supported by the respective tribe.
Iraq is actually a rich country, but it is struggling to use its wealth in a sustainable way to end these crises.
This is different from Bosnia, where there are not these mineral resources as in Iraq, but where nevertheless - even though the conflict arose differently - attempts have been made to end these crises with the support of the international community.
For Iraqi children in refugee camps I have spoken to who are missing relatives and loved ones, the loss of family members is the strongest burden and their greatest wish is to see their missing relatives and loved ones again. What hopes and chances do you see that these children will see their loved ones again who have been missing for over seven years now?
Alexander Hug: It is the basic hope of every family member who misses someone that the missing person is still alive. This is not only the case in Iraq, I have seen it elsewhere and this hope remains for a very long time, even after seven to eight years.
Dealing with this hope correctly is not easy, so it also requires social and psychological care for these children and families to accompany them during this difficult time. It also requires the ability of the state to make every effort to find the missing, whether dead or alive. However, it is clear from other conflicts that you will never find all the missing, there will always be a number of people who are not found, this was the case in the First and Second World Wars, the Vietnam War, other wars and also natural disasters.
Unlike other countries, Iraq lacks a strong civil society that organises, informs and tries, in cooperation with the state, to drive this process of searching for missing persons. This civil society in Iraq is very fragmented, often uninformed and often also very strictly controlled by the state, e.g. unregistered NGOs are often also declared as anti-state groups. In this respect, there is also a need for these NGOs to be able to play a bigger role in educating the population, because this is the only way that people will develop a deeper understanding of how the search for missing persons works and how and when missing persons can be found.
I think that transparency on the part of the state, supported by civil society, would certainly help to ensure that people are not left alone with their hopes.
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