Baku:During a panel session at the 4th International Conference within the Baku Dialogue on Missing Persons, Mohammed Al-Obaidi, a representative of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, highlighted the need for humanitarian-focused efforts in addressing the issue of missing persons, urging that it should not be politicized.
According to Azeri-Press news agency, Al-Obaidi emphasized the significant impact of prolonged uncertainty and lack of information on families of missing persons. He reiterated the United Nations’ stance that, beyond the missing individuals themselves, their families have a fundamental right to know the truth about their relatives’ fates and whereabouts, including the circumstances leading to their disappearance.
In the context of the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Al-Obaidi underscored the critical importance of persistent efforts to determine the status of those still unaccounted for since the military operations in 2020. He stressed that the passage of time does not diminish the humanitarian needs of these families, advocating for continued efforts to gather, preserve information, and support identification processes.
Al-Obaidi concluded by stating that resolving the issue of missing persons should be independent of political resolutions to the conflict. He noted the enduring uncertainty faced by some families in the region, who have been waiting for over 30 years, and stressed that they should not endure further generations living with this uncertainty.