The Global Alliance for the Missing currently has 12 member states and is in its second year of collective advocacy activities. Brought together by an ICRC–Swiss initiative to mark the 150th anniversary of the Central Tracing Agency, we are committed to raising awareness and inspiring action to help missing persons and their families. Our briefings this year focused on missing migrants  (in May) and the needs and agency of families (September), with the overall goal of better understanding different facets of issues related to prevention and response. We will hold a third briefing before the end of 2023.

On 23 May 2023, the Global Alliance delivered a joint statement at the UN Security Council open debate on the protection of civilians, which significantly increased the global visibility of our members’ collective commitments. The statement introduced the Global Alliance to the broader international community as a body of reference for policy and diplomatic advocacy on missing persons. It also highlighted key issues on which the Global Alliance is focusing.

Looking ahead, our members will have the opportunity to interact with the families of missing persons at a special session of the International Conference for Families of Missing Persons in November 2023. We are also considering aspects of UN Security Council Resolution 2474 for which we can support implementation, particularly through peer-to-peer experience-sharing to support contextually relevant approaches at the regional and national levels.