14 February 2024, Kyiv

With the EU financial support, the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) has donated equipment and material worth more than EUR 120,000 to Ukraine’s State Scientific Research Forensic Center (SSRFC) to support efforts to account for missing persons as a result of the Russian invasion.

ICMP has donated two AB 3500 genetic analyzers to Ukraine’s State Scientific Research Forensic Center in Kyiv, which is under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The AB 3500 genetic analyzers are essential instruments in the process of DNA profiling of biological samples provided by families who have missing relatives and biological samples from cases of unidentified mortal remains.

The donation will facilitate DNA-led human identification and is emblematic of the growing cooperation between ICMP and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in general, and the State Scientific Research Forensic Center in particular.

Serhii Krymchuk, Director of the State Scientific Research Forensic Center said: “Using state-of-the-art equipment like this in the DNA labs of the Expert Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will aid in locating missing persons during armed conflicts and bolstering the evidence database in criminal cases. “

“This is just one of the ways in which ICMP is assisting Ukraine to account for the large and growing number of persons missing as a consequence of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine,” said Matthew Holliday, ICMP’s Program Director Europe. “In addition, ICMP is collecting data from Ukrainian citizens abroad to help facilitate the identification effort; providing support to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Health to develop a state-of-the-art identification center; engaging its forensic experts in the examination of the most complex cases when domestic capacities are exhausted; and helping families of the missing to meaningfully engage in the process.”

Arturo Rodriguez Tonelli, Regional Program Manager, EU Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI), said “This donation will augment the capacity of the State Scientific Research Forensic Center to process biological samples from cases of unidentified human remains. This not only contributes to the identification of persons missing as a consequence of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also supports investigations into war crimes – thereby helping secure families’ rights to truth and justice.”

This donation has been made possible by the generous financial support of the European Union Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) and highlights the shared commitment of international organizations to address the challenges arising from the war in Ukraine.

ICMP is dedicated to supporting families of the missing in Ukraine by assisting in the development of effective human identification techniques in the context of an integrated missing persons process.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Oksana Romaniuk Communications and Outreach Program Manager
International Commission on Missing Persons-ICMP
Oksana.romaniuk@icmp.int 

About ICMP
ICMP is an intergovernmental organization with Headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Its mandate is to secure the cooperation of governments and others in locating missing persons
from conflict, human rights abuses, disasters, organized crime, irregular migration and other
causes and to assist them in doing so.