DNA sampling, cooperation abroad and identification of persons: Leonid Timchenko met with the leadership of the International Commission on Missing Persons
Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Leonid Tymchenko held a meeting with representatives of the International Commission on Missing Persons.
Representatives of the National Police of Ukraine, the State Research Expert and Forensic Center and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine also joined the meeting.
Leonid Tymchenko thanked the representatives of the International Commission on Missing Persons for their visit and close cooperation. He informed that the Department of the Ministry has established a Department for Missing Persons under Special Circumstances, which acts as the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Missing Persons under Special Circumstances, and noted that since April 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has introduced the Unified Register of Missing Persons for special circumstances.
“As of today, we have about 28,000 missing citizens under special circumstances who need to be searched. There is a need to select DNA samples in order to compare this information with those requests that come to expert institutions from families of missing persons,” said Leonid Tymchenko.
However, according to him, now in Ukraine there is a problem regarding the identification of bodies that remain in the occupied territories, in the combat zone, or are temporarily buried.
“Search teams cannot come in, pick up the bodies and exchange the ones we have. Unfortunately, it is impossible to have full cooperation on exchange with the aggressor and the terrorist,” added Leonid Timchenko.
In turn, ICZB Director General Catherine Bomberger noted that the main issue today is the harmonization of the work of all state authorities and institutions dealing with the issue of missing persons.
During the meeting, replenishment of the DNA base was discussed. ICZB representatives stressed that according to international experience, a database of 90,000 DNA samples should be formed for 30,000 missing persons. That is, at least three relatives of the missing person must provide their genetic sample for research.
The question was also raised about the success of the pilot project of the Ministry of Internal Affairs together with the ICZB on the selection of DNA samples from Ukrainians abroad, which was launched in February this year. Currently, the sampling company operates in Poland and the Netherlands, the goal is to work with Ukrainians in Germany.
Catherine Bomberger stressed the importance of establishing interaction between public authorities and the families of missing persons. Leonid Tymchenko noted that at least three times a week the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Missing Persons under special circumstances holds meetings with public organizations that care about the issues of missing persons.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Missing Persons under Special Circumstances are open to cooperation with public organizations, activists, families of missing persons to determine the location and fate of all persons missing under special circumstances.
Department of Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
