Unnamed man holding photo of his missing son. Twitter@issafrica
Africa’s missing people must not be forgotten says the ICRC
The task becomes more challenging since no reliable information exists to confirm whether the missing people are alive or dead.
Unnamed man holding photo of his missing son. Twitter@issafrica
“The most difficult thing is to live without news about my son. I often think about what happened to him, what has become of him. Every night I think of him and I cry,” lamented a mother from Cameroon of her missing child to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
People around the world go missing every day. Behind every one of these people are loved ones who miss them. Their feelings of loss, uncertainty and hopelessness are shared by thousands across Africa.
Mass migration, conflict, political instability and natural disasters result in millions of people going missing every year. While many eventually reach their destinations and maintain contact with their families, those that don’t are often lost and forgotten to the world.
Some of those who go missing lose touch voluntarily when they move to a new place and ‘disappear’ themselves.
However there are many who fall out of touch involuntarily, without access to communication or contact information, especially those detained, abducted or trafficked.
There are also others who die, and their remains go unrecovered or unidentified.
No one’s missing the missing
To compound the tragedy, comprehensive and readily verifiable statistics on the number of missing people still don’t exist.
As of 30 June 2020, close to 44 000 people were still ‘missing’ on the continent. More than 28% of them are children, says the ICRC.
About 80% of those missing originate from 11 countries alone. These are Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan.
The International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on 30 August was first marked globally following an official declaration by the United Nations a decade ago.
Originally it recognised the plight of people forcibly disappeared, including through arrest, detention and abduction. Today it has evolved to include those missing from their homes and families for a range of reasons.
Urgent action needed
However, for those grieving families, commemorating the day is not enough. Governments and humanitarian organisations do try to locate the missing, but more needs to be done.
In Africa, most families of the disappeared are left to deal with the trauma on their own.
No reliable information exists to confirm whether they are alive or dead. In some cases, people are separated from their loved ones for decades before they are found and reconnected with their families.
Many people go missing at sea after attempting perilous journeys made more dangerous by the increased securitisation of migration in and out of Africa.
In 2014, following an upsurge in migration from Africa to Europe that saw a resultant rise in deaths at sea, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) established the Missing Migrants Project.
The project aimed to better document those who die or disappear and are presumed dead while on their journey. Since then, the IOM has recorded over 33 000 missing people.
The actual number is probably much higher, as not all deaths and disappearances are reported, and sometimes there is insufficient information to identify people or connect them with their relatives.
Many people are displaced in camps or hard-to-reach places such as detention facilities. Others may not have any contact points, or means to access them.
In this chasm of uncertainty, their loved ones continue to search for them. Seeking closure, they wish to know the fate and whereabouts of their relatives but are often confronted with legal and administrative hurdles, financial difficulties, emotional strain and social challenges that make this already emotionally draining journey even more difficult.
There are now renewed calls for missing people to be located and identified with greater efficiency and certainty. Developments in telecommunications, advances in the field of genetics and forensics, and the creation of dedicated databases have helped.
However challenges remain. In particular, comprehensive and readily verifiable statistics on the number of missing people still don’t exist.
Communication technology can help
The rapid advancement in technology can reduce the numbers who go missing and lessen their families’ grief.
Ottilia Anna Maunganidze, Head of Special Projects at the Pretoria-based Institute of Security Studies (ISS).
“Central databases and information exchanges between agencies, governments and non-governmental organisations, as well as coordination with families of the missing, could go a long way in addressing this challenge.”
In 2020, the ISS and the ICRC embarked on a joint research project whose findings are aimed at informing the public and policymakers of the plight of missing people and their families.
The project is part of the ICRC’s efforts to raise awareness about the issue in Africa, and intersects with the work the ISS does on advancing evidence-based approaches to human security.
The two organisations say their aim is to keep the issue on the agenda while hoping that governments and intergovernmental agencies will be moved to take the lead on assisting desperate families and communities seeking closure on the status of their loved ones.
