Iraq centre to trace disappeared

By Becky Branford
BBC News

A man who lost family under Saddam Hussein shows delegates photos

Iraq is to set up a national centre to trace around a million people who have disappeared there since 1979.

Delegates from Iraq have joined officials from 20 other nations, the UN, non-government groups and relatives of the missing for talks in Jordan.

Iraq's human rights minister told the BBC News website the task facing the delegates was formidable.

But Bakhtiar Amin said that providing answers about missing loved ones was part of "rebuilding a sane society".

Files of the missing

He said about 288 mass graves have so far been found in Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein - including "a huge one" found in the Basra area in the last few days, thought to contain about 5,000 bodies.

TRAIL OF DEATH Estimated 1m missing since 1979 288 mass graves discovered Only 20 forensic pathologists in Iraq 700-800 bodies per month require identification in Baghdad alone

But Iraq is ill-equipped to deal with graves being discovered, and processing the huge number of paper files - there is no computerised database yet - of people who have disappeared since Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979.

"In Iraq we do not have any institutions to deal with this issue, and we do not have a legal framework, and we do not have sufficient scientific and technical expertise in this domain," Mr Amin said.

"As an example, in 12 of Iraq's 18 [provinces], we do not have a single forensic pathologist - and all in all for a population of about 27 million inhabitants we have just 20 forensic pathologists - compare that with Jordan, which with only five million inhabitants has 35."

He said more than 700 bodies require processing every month in the Baghdad area alone - both long-dead victims and recently killed - but the city only had refrigerated storage for 78 bodies.

The centre will not deal only with victims of Saddam Hussein's repressive rule. It will also cover victims of the wars with Iran, Kuwait, the 2003 US-led invasion, and those missing in the months since.

The only exception is those missing in the 1991 Gulf War, which is covered by another agreement.

Matching remains

John Pace, head of the human rights office at the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (Unami), said the centre would register information from relatives of the missing and other records, and try to match that with remains discovered.

Mr Amin visited a forensic centre for missing people in Sarajevo

He said it was hoped the centre would be financed both by Iraq and donor nations.

"There should be sufficient resources available," he told the BBC News website.

"There is quite an extensive political will in favour of such human rights projects. On the other hand, when the invoices start to [come in], there is always the pressure to get them paid."

Other nations and the UN are also lending their expertise to the project, helping to train Iraqi forensic scientists to staff the centre once it opens.

Both Mr Pace and Mr Amin say they hope the project will get under way "within weeks".

Mr Amin said he also hoped to be able to offer psychological support to those who have lost relatives and those who were tortured or imprisoned under Saddam Hussein.

"Imagine for yourself - a widow who has lost her husband, her father, her brothers, her uncles - what kind of life is that person living? We need to support these people," he said.

The conference ends on Monday.