Restoring Family Links
The institution obtained lists of French prisoners held by German forces, which were used to inform families about the fate and whereabouts of the soldiers.
By the end of 1946, the Agency had received and forwarded more than twenty million letters and cards addressed to prisoners of war and interned civilians.
Restoring contact between family members, when their location is known, is done via various means, such as short letters called Red Cross Messages (RCMs), normal telephones or satellite phones.
The national authorities have the primary responsibility for reuniting separated families following conflict, disaster migration or other situations of humanitarian need.
[18][19] The ICRC's work on the missing historically consisted of a few core activities, primarily dissemination of the rules of international humanitarian law (IHL), which require that states work to prevent disappearances, and bilateral interventions requesting parties to the conflict to search for and provide information, after separation, in accordance with IHL.
The main goal of this approach is to help people rebuild their social lives and find emotional well-being.
An ICRC Travel Document is issued to meet the specific humanitarian needs of asylum seekers, refugees, vulnerable migrants, displaced or stateless persons who, due to the lack of appropriate identity papers, cannot return to their country of origin or of habitual residence or go to a country willing to receive them, either permanently or for temporary asylum.
[24] The public can request information from the ICRC archives related to World War II cases.
The four Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols state, for example, that governments should take all possible steps to facilitate the reunification of separated families.
The ICRC is responsible for ensuring the operation of the Central Tracing Agency (CTA) as provided for in the Geneva Conventions.
The CTA acts as coordinator and technical adviser to National Societies, ICRC delegations and governments on RFL.
It helps strengthen the capacity of National Societies in RFL and coordinates these activities with the organisational development and disaster preparedness support provided by the International Federation.
