Switzerland is ready to support the Ministry of Internal Affairs in expanding the capabilities for the identification of missing persons
The meeting with representatives of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland and the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine was held on October 27 this year by Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Leonid Tymchenko and Head of the Department for Missing Persons under Special Circumstances of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Artur Dobrosserker Dov. During the meeting, the parties discussed ways of cooperation in the field of compliance with the norms of international humanitarian law throughout the territory of Ukraine in terms of the search for missing persons under special circumstances.
The Swiss side was informed about the powers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the system of central executive bodies - the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been designated as the main body that ensures the formation and implementation of state policy in the field of compliance with the norms of international humanitarian law throughout the territory of Ukraine in terms of powers coordinating the search for missing persons under special circumstances and resolving other related issues in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Status of Persons Missing Under Special Circumstances”.
“Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmyhal decided to transfer powers from the Ministry of Reintegration, namely the Institute of the Commissioner for Missing Persons under Special Circumstances, to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This decision is due to the fact that it is the functions for the search and identification of missing persons that are performed by the units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs system - the National Police and the Expert Service, - Deputy Minister Leonid Tymchenko informed. - Currently, we have regional representatives of the Secretariat of the Commissioner for 70% the territory of Ukraine, communication with the families of the missing persons has been established, relatives have the opportunity to communicate directly with representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs”.
In addition, from April of this year. The Ministry of Internal Affairs ensures the functioning of the Unified Register of Persons Missing in Special Circumstances. In six months since the launch of the Register, more than 12 thousand requests for extracts have been received from relatives of missing persons and more than 11 thousand extracts have been issued.
In turn, Deputy Head of the Department for Peace and Human Rights of the Swiss Federal Department for Foreign Affairs Rea Göring and Counsellor of the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine Gaitan Vanne informed about the areas of assistance that Switzerland can provide to expand the capabilities of the units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in search and identification of bodies of missing persons, in particular, provision of equipment by specialists of the Expert Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Thus, previously, the Swiss side transferred devices for conducting DNA examinations to the units of the State Scientific Expert and Forensic Center in Zaporizhzhya, Mykolaiv and Donetsk regions. Currently, in the realities of the Russian-Ukrainian war, proper provision of the Expert Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the identification of bodies, in particular, of missing persons, is extremely important.
“Today we have built work on the interaction of units of the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - the Main Investigative Department of the NPU, the Expert Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Department of Informatization of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the work with the General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Coordination Headquarters on the Treatment of Prisoners of War (GUR of the Ministry of Internal Affairs) has been established, - said the head of the Personnel Department Artur Dobroserdov, missing under special circumstances. - The police in the de-occupied territories carry out stabilization measures, search for bodies and start pre-trial investigations. Our expert institutions carry out DNA identification and portrait research of missing persons. Also in Lviv and Kharkiv, representatives of the Secretariat of the Commissioner hold a reception of citizens together with the Coordination Headquarters of the GUR of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”.
The main task of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Missing Persons is to explain to relatives the mechanism and the way they should take together with state authorities in search of missing relatives, said Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Leonid Tymchenko.
To inform citizens in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the “hotline” of the Commissioner for Missing Persons in Special Circumstances works at 0 800 103 333.
Also on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine there is a questionnaire for a person who disappeared under special circumstances (https://services.mvs.gov.ua/categories/anketa). The questionnaire is filled in electronically and sent to the e-mail address [email protected].
Department of Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
