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The number of people reported missing due to conflicts worldwide has reached its highest level ever, with more than 56,000 new cases documented in 2024, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This alarming increase has been highlighted during a session at the United Nations General Assembly, where the ICRC’s humanitarian affairs adviser, Fernando Fornaris, discussed the issue.
As of 2024, the ICRC is tracking nearly 255,000 cases of missing persons, a figure that reflects the highest increase in at least two decades. Fornaris attributed this surge to the growing number of large-scale conflicts and widespread violations of international humanitarian law. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, echoed these concerns, explaining that the continuing disregard for such laws is leading to countless disappearances.
“The pain of not knowing the fate of loved ones is one of the worst things that can ever happen to anyone. It never eases, no matter how much time has passed,” Turk said during the meeting. People go missing during conflict for various reasons, including death, torture, kidnapping, mistreatment, and forced displacement.
Turk also pointed out that the number of missing persons includes not only those affected by armed conflicts but also those who have disappeared under military regimes, state repression, or while migrating. He noted the staggering scale of the crisis, with some countries seeing tens of thousands of missing people, while others report numbers well over 100,000.
Over the past 45 years, a working group under the UN Human Rights Council has investigated more than 62,000 cases of enforced disappearances. Unfortunately, Turk stressed, these figures only represent a small fraction of the vast scale of the problem, which remains largely hidden.
