Humanitarian forensic action in the Marawi crisis

This chapter aims to explore the forensic setup and response capacity of the Philippines. It examines how this was applied in practice during the forensic humanitarian response to the Marawi crisis. The chapter discusses the forensic challenges that were encountered in this complex context. Under international humanitarian law the dead are a distinct category of victim, and as such have the right to have their personal dignity and identity protected. Ante‐mortem data collection points were set up for purely humanitarian reasons to facilitate the identification of missing and suspected deceased individuals; no information for prosecution of any kind should be collected. A closer integration between the Management of the Dead and Missing Cluster and forensic specialists, many of whom are affiliated with the academic rather than the humanitarian sector would further facilitate a smoother identification process in the future.