On 29 June 2023, the Autonomous Bougainville Government inaugurated the Office of Missing Persons, underscoring the government’s commitment to addressing the profound impact on families of spending decades not knowing what happened to their missing family members. The strictly humanitarian purpose of the office is to provide solace to these families and foster a sense of peace and reconciliation in the community. It was established under the region’s new Missing Persons Policy in order to implement that policy. The office has partnered with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Central Tracing Agency’s Red Cross and Red Crescent Missing Persons Centre. Under the memorandum of agreement they signed, the partners will provide technical support to boost local capacity and ensure that the optimum approach is taken to handling missing persons cases.

Alongside the inauguration, a series of high-level meetings were held between representatives of the ICRC’s mission in Papua New Guinea, the Missing Persons Centre and members of the government of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, including President Ishmael Toroama, Attorney General Ezekiel Masatt and Speaker of the House of Representatives Simon Pentanu, as well as various other ministers and members of parliament and members of the parliament of Papua New Guinea. The discussions, which were positive and enthusiastic, further emphasized the collaborative nature of the undertaking and demonstrated a collective determination to co-design the establishment of the mechanism, conduct a meaningful search process and provide answers to the full extent possible to the families whose loved ones are missing.