Received: 5 April 2021 Accepted: 25 April 2021

DOI: 10.1002/wfs2.1438

ADVANCED REVIEW

Humanitarian forensic action: A new forensic discipline

helping to implement international law and
construct peace

Morris V. Tidball-Binz | Stephen Cordner

Department of Forensic Medicine,

Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Asbtract
Australia Humanitarian forensic action, a novel field of application of forensic science, has
evolved to assist the humanitarian response to armed conflicts, other situations of
Correspondence
Morris V. Tidball-Binz, Department of violence and catastrophic events. It is discipline framed by International Humanitar-
Forensic Medicine, Monash University, ian and Human Rights Law and it was shaped up by the early experience of the
Wellington Rd, Clayton VIC 3800
Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team and that of the Grandmothers of Plaza de
Australia.
Email: [email protected] Mayo in Argentina during the 80s and 90s and later developed by international orga-
nizations, including the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red
Edited by: Claude Roux, Editor
Cross. Having demonstrated its worth, including for peace-building, and evolving
rapidly, this new field of application of forensic medicine and science needs further
development, integration, and research to meet growing needs at global scale.

This article is categorized under:

Forensic Medicine > Mass Casualty Management
Forensic Anthropology > Anthropology in Mass Disaster & War Crime
Contexts
Forensic Biology > Ethical and Social Implications

KEYWORDS
humanitarian forensic action, human rights, international humanitarian law

1 | INTRODUCTION

A common thread links the following: a large-scale forensic operation recently carried out for the recovery and identification
of soldiers buried in a remote island on the South Atlantic; the standard-setting process launched in 2018 to protect the dig-
nity of the dead in all humanitarian emergencies, past and present; and the latest efforts to ensure the proper management
and identification of COVID-19 fatalities worldwide. They all involve humanitarian forensic action, a novel field applying
forensic science to humanitarian activities. This article describes its origins and development, its main fields of action and
some of the challenges and opportunities presented by this rapidly evolving discipline.

2 | DEFINITION OF HUMANITA RIAN FORENS IC ACTION

The term humanitarian forensic action was first used in 2012 and is defined as “the application of forensic science to
humanitarian activities” (Tidball-Binz, 2012).

WIREs Forensic Sci. 2022;4:e1438. wires.wiley.com/forensicsci © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC. 1 of 16

https://doi.org/10.1002/wfs2.1438
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The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) defines humanitarian action as any activity aimed at alleviat-
ing suffering and protecting human dignity, carried out in a neutral, impartial, independent and free manner. Further-
more, it is framed by International Humanitarian Law (IHL), a branch of international public law applicable in times
of armed conflict (Gaggioli, 2018). The International Court of Justice has defined humanitarian action as activities car-
ried out by organizations and individuals “to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found” and “to
protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being” (alive or dead) (Nicaragua v. United States of
America, 1986, para 242). The same principles also apply in response to humanitarian emergencies unrelated to armed
conflict, such as natural catastrophes and migration (International Organization for Migration, 2018).
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and specifically the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols
oblige the Parties to an armed conflict to treat those killed in war with dignity, to recover their bodies, try to identify
them, respectfully bury them, and document their whereabouts. IHL also protects the right of family members to know
the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones who disappeared in action (ICRC, 1949). To comply with these obligations,
States can request the assistance of the ICRC as a humanitarian organization that has been ensuring, for more than
150 years and globally, compliance with these norms (ICRC, 2021a).
Over the last couple of decades, forensic science has proven to be useful and even indispensable for fulfilling some
humanitarian tasks. Its innovative application in this field was initially focused on the prevention and resolution of the
phenomenon of missing persons as a result of armed conflicts, other situations of violence, major catastrophes and
migratory phenomena. But in recent years it has expanded its scope of action to help ensure the correct and dignified
management of the deceased, the documentation of torture and ill-treatment (Pollanen, 2018), as well as sexual vio-
lence and other abuses in contexts of armed conflict (Wells, 2017), and the protection of vulnerable populations and
groups, including migrants and children (Obertova & Cattaneo, 2018).
This rapidly evolving discipline has already deserved special editions of prestigious forensic publications (Tidball-
Binz et al., 2018), dedicated manuals (Parra et al., 2020) and its inclusion in the most important forensic congresses in
the world, such as the International Association of Forensic Sciences (IAFS), the International Academy of Legal Medi-
cine (IALM), and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS). The discipline is also a matter of interest,
research, and teaching of academic centers. For example, in June 2018, the National Forensic Sciences University
(NFSU) of India inaugurated the International Center for Humanitarian Forensics (NFSU, 2018); and in November
2019 the University of Coimbra, Portugal, inaugurated its University Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian
Forensic Research and Training, dedicated to the development and promotion of this new discipline. It is expected that
this new Center, which also includes the participation of leading scholars from the Universities of Toronto (Canada),
Milano (Italy), and Monash (Australia), will launch its activities in 2021 to become a platform for international aca-
demic cooperation for strengthening the important contribution of forensic science to humanitarian activities and
human rights protection at a global level.

3 | B A C K G R O U N D O F H U M A N I TA R I A N F O R E N S I C A C T I O N

The traditional conception of legal medicine and forensic sciences identifies them with domestic judicial purposes. The
term forensic itself derives from the ancient Roman “forum,” the seat of the law courts, and means “related to
the courts” or, more simply, “related to the law.” However, and despite its close link with the law and judicial processes,
it is undeniable that legal medicine and forensic science have always had a humanitarian dimension. For example, in
any process of collecting and presenting evidence for a homicide investigation and trial, legal medicine will have helped
to identify the deceased, thus assuring relatives, among other things, their right to honor their loved one in accordance
to their cultural and religious precepts. Both legal medicine and forensic science will also have contributed to replacing
the painful uncertainty about what happened to the victims with the truth of facts, however terrible they might
be. Likewise, for example, during the examination and collection of evidence of bodily and emotional damage suffered
by a victim of torture, legal medicine will have helped to ensure early medical and other assistance required by the vic-
tim, in order to attend to the physical and emotional consequences suffered and secure the necessary reparations.
It is precisely this dimension of forensic science which is now recognized as essential in every humanitarian
response to situations of conflict, armed violence, and major disasters. It is needed to help guarantee, among other
things, the proper management of deceased persons, including the protection of their dignity, and achieving their iden-
tification, an essential step to prevent their disappearance. As a result, the correct and dignified management of the
dead in humanitarian emergencies is today regarded as one of the three pillars of the humanitarian response in
TIDBALL-BINZ AND CORDNER 3 of 16

conflicts or disasters (together with the attention and care of survivors and the restoration of basic services), for which
the contribution of legal medicine and forensic science are considered indispensable. The recognition of the valuable
role of forensic science is also increasingly apparent in other areas of humanitarian action, including the monitoring of
places of detention, documentation of ill-treatment and torture, especially in places of custody, management and docu-
mentation of sexual assault, support for bereaved family members, and the investigation of deaths in custody.
Despite its obvious value, the use and application of forensic science to humanitarian activities, is however a rela-
tively recent development.

4 | B R I E F HI S TO R Y O F H U M A N I T A R I A N F O R E N S I C A C T I O N

The history of humanitarian forensic action dates back to the 20th century, with the first exhumation and forensic analysis
for humanitarian purposes carried out in 1943 on the remains of hundreds of victims of a massacre perpetrated during
World War II by Soviet troops in the Katyn forests, Poland. That forensic operation represented the first full-scale use of
forensic medicine and scientific techniques available in its time to recover and help identify victims of a wartime massacre.
It was carried out by an international team of forensic experts convened and overseen by the German authorities at the time.
The operation, which was assisted by a technical commission of the Polish Red Cross, managed to identify some of the
remains recovered based on documents and other personal items recovered along with the bodies, allowing for some of the
victims to be subsequently buried in a dignified manner. The investigation however was overshadowed by the intention of
the Nazi régime of using the findings as propaganda against its Soviet enemies (Debons et al., 2009).
Decades later, humanitarian forensic action became identified as a discrete discipline and activity as the combined
result of two fundamental developments.
The first was the innovative and pioneering use of forensic sciences by a non-governmental organization of forensic
anthropology in Argentina, created specifically to search, recover and identify victims (“the Disappeared”) of the military
regime that ruled the country between 1976 and 1983. The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF) was created by
a group of young professionals and students in 1984 as the first organization of its kind and used techniques derived from
archeology and forensic anthropology to find and identify some of the thousands of victims of the regime (Celesía, 2019).
For this unprecedented humanitarian and human rights effort, they received specialized training and advice from
forensic experts summoned by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. These included the
renowned anthropologist and Coroner Dr. Clyde Colin Snow, who provided EAAF founders with the necessary training
in forensic anthropology and other related sciences to carry out their unprecedented task.
The EAAF has become an internationally recognized institution and continues to carry out these tasks today on a
global level. The Team has also become a model for similar initiatives throughout South America and elsewhere, help-
ing to create and train similar teams in Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and South Africa to mention just some examples.
The EAAF has played a fundamental role in the development of Humanitarian Forensic Action. Indeed, the Team
has led the way in demonstrating the value and usefulness of forensic science in finding many of the “disappeared,”
providing reliable answers to their families and communities about the whereabouts and fate of their loved ones.
Many family members thus found, for the first time, the truth they so long sought that had not been provided by tra-
ditional forensic systems, often biased by the policies of the prevailing regimes.
It should be noted that the inspiration and driving force required for the creation of the EAAF did not come from
forensic science. It was the relatives of disappeared people in Argentina and, in particular, the Grandmothers (Abuelas)
of the Plaza de Mayo (APM), who provided that impulse. The APM was created in 1977, in the midst of the military dic-
tatorship, to find the children (the grandchildren of the APM), kidnapped along with their missing parents. In order to
support their search and reliably identify their grandchildren recovered years after their disappearance, the Grand-
mothers devised the use of forensic hemogenetics to assist in these identifications, thus promoting the creation of the
world's first forensic genetic data bank. This bank was recognized by national law in 1987 and later incorporated DNA
analysis into its investigations, also at the urging of the Grandmothers (Jorge et al., 1986).
It was precisely the Grandmothers who provided the indispensable support and encouragement for the creation of
the EAAF, at a time when the first scientific exhumations carried out by the Team faced criticism, skepticism and even
threats in Argentina.
The second fundamental contribution to the development of humanitarian forensic action has been that of public
international law, in particular international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights law. Table 1 lists some funda-
mental rights and obligations contained in these bodies of law in relation to persons who have disappeared in armed
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conflicts and in other situations of violence. Unintentionally, these important rules have also ultimately served to frame
and articulate the guiding principles, objectives, and practice of humanitarian forensic action, and even anticipate the
kind of forensic knowledge, methods, and techniques that are required—and that have been developed specifically—to
help make them effective, including those promoted and used early by the EAAF and Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo.
It is worth noting here that the explicit recognition of the universal right of every person to be identified after their
death, something fundamental to prevent them from becoming disappeared, is of relatively recent development. It was
formally enunciated for the first time in 1996, by the General Assembly of INTERPOL (International Criminal Police
Organization) (INTERPOL, 1996).
In conjunction with the above, during the last couple of decades of the twentieth century, some international
human rights non-governmental organizations, such as Amnesty International and Physicians for Human Rights,
began to use the services of forensic specialists to support their investigations, as well as to support its lobbying tasks at
the diplomatic level, including before the United Nations (UN), the Council of Europe and other intergovernmental
organizations. In doing so, they unquestionably contributed to developing best-practice forensic approaches to human
rights investigations.
An example of this was the development and adoption by the UN, in 1989, of its Manual on the Effective Prevention
and Investigation of Extralegal, Arbitrary or Summary Executions (Minnesota Protocol). Since then, the Manual has
served as a model for other UN documents on forensic science, including the Guide to UN Investigations into Allega-
tions of Massacres, and the UN Manual for the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture (Istanbul Proto-
col). The Minnesota Protocol was recently reviewed by a group of forensic and legal specialists convened by the UN,
resulting in a new edition published in 2016, entitled “The Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlaw-
ful Deaths” (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), 2016). Likewise, the Istan-
bul Protocol is currently in the process of being revised by the UN for an updated edition.
The first UN resolution on human rights and forensic science was adopted by the Commission on Human Rights in
1992 (OHCHR, 1992). It recognized for the first time the value and role of forensic science in humanitarian and human-
itarian investigations. Human rights, including those linked to disappearances. This resolution called on the commu-
nity of States to support its development and implementation, and inspired the UN to establish a permanent list of
forensic scientists and institutions from around the world, available to participate in the investigations required by the
organization (UNSG, 1998).

TABLE 1 Examples of rights and obligations related to the missing under international law

Rights/obligations Reference
Right of families to know the fate and whereabouts of their Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (Article 32)
missing members
Obligation to adopt all possible measures to account for those Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (Articles 32 and
reported as missing as a result of an armed conflict 33) and Fourth Geneva Convention (Articles 136–141)
Right of families to respect for their family life The Hague Convention of 1907 (Regulation No. IV); Universal
Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 (Article 12); American
Convention on Human Rights (Article 17); European Convention
for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
(Article 8); and International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (Articles 17 and 23)
Obligation of the Parties (to armed conflicts) to collect all First Geneva Convention (Articles 16 and 17)
available information for the purpose of identifying the dead
before their final disposal
Obligation to take all possible measures to prevent the dead from First Geneva Convention, Article 15, first paragraph (ibid., § 126);
being despoiled or the prohibition of the despoliation of the Second Geneva Convention, Article 18, first paragraph (ibid., §
dead 127); Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 16, second paragraph
(ibid., § 128); and Additional Protocol I, Article 34(1)
Prohibition of mutilating dead bodies Elements of Crimes for the ICC, Definition of committing outrages
upon personal dignity as a war crime (ICC Statute, Footnote 49
relating to Article 8(2)(b)(xxi))
TIDBALL-BINZ AND CORDNER 5 of 16

The normative development of the UN recognizing the value of forensic sciences and promoting its use for the pro-
tection and promotion of human rights, has been reflected by other intergovernmental organizations, such as the Orga-
nization of American States (OAS).
Furthermore, the UN Security Council established, through Resolution 827 of May 25, 1993, the International Crim-
inal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). This was the first international criminal court established to investigate
and punish war crimes and crimes against humanity since the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals—created at the end of
World War II—and the first to make large-scale use of forensic medicine and science practitioners to support their
investigations, in particular with regard to homicides and massacres.
However, these forensic investigations, which included large-scale exhumations, had the exclusive purpose of docu-
menting and providing evidence about the crimes committed, in particular the cause, manner and circumstances of the
deaths of the victims. The ICTY Deputy Prosecutor explained at the time the purpose of the forensic exhumation pro-
gram sponsored by the Court as follows: “Following the exhumations [...] all the bodies underwent autopsies [...] to deter-
mine the cause and manner of death and the demographic profile of the victims” (Blewitt, 1997, p. 288). Unfortunately, as
the ICTY focused its forensic investigations exclusively on the objective of adjudicating responsibility, the identification
of all victims was neglected, since convictions for murder and genocide do not require knowing the names of the vic-
tims. In addition, identifying each of them would have required resources and time that the Court did not have. Thus,
as a consequence, hundreds of bodies recovered and examined at the request of the Court continued to be unnamed:
they remained disappeared. And their families continued to suffer the anguish of not knowing the whereabouts of their
loved ones and of not being able to watch over and honor their dead.
In response to the foregoing, the international community was quick to react, through initiatives aimed at identifying
the dead from the wars in the former Yugoslavia and finding the missing. For example, after the 1995 General Framework
Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also called the Dayton Agreement, the International Commission on
Missing Persons (ICMP) was created in 1996. This organization has assisted through large-scale DNA analysis the efforts
of local and international forensics aimed at searching for the disappeared, which together have allowed the recovery and
identification to date of approximately 70% of the 40,000 disappeared and dead in the former Yugoslavia. More recently,
ICMP has been established as an Intergovernmental Organization, established its headquarters in the Netherlands and
has signed cooperation agreements with the International Criminal Court and INTERPOL (ICMP, 2021).
Throughout the armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia, the ICRC worked hard to solve disappearances, as it has
historically done in other parts of the world, since its foundation in 1863. However, the organization had not yet
acquired its forensic capacity at the time of the conflict in the Balkans.
The humanitarian tragedy of the nameless dead and of the tens of thousands of missing persons in the former Yugosla-
via led the ICRC to organize in 2003 the first International Conference of Governmental and Non-Governmental Experts
on the Missing and their Families. The purpose was to develop practical recommendations to prevent and resolve the
worldwide phenomenon of the missing based on lessons learned, including those of forensic science (ICRC, 2003).
That international Conference was the first of its kind and it clearly identified a fundamental lesson learned from
the conflict in the Balkans. It remains a lesson which is also a cornerstone of the ethics that guides the practice of
humanitarian forensic action: identifying the dead must be an integral part of any investigation of deaths and disap-
pearances in armed conflicts, other situations of violence and major catastrophes. This was explicitly recommended in
several of the conclusions of this important Conference:

Forensic specialists working in investigations into missing persons […]

• have an ethical obligation to actively advocate for an identification process […];

• when examining the [human] remains, have an ethical duty to observe and record all potentially relevant informa-
tion for their identification;
• must consider the rights and needs of families before, during and after the forensic investigation;
• should be familiar with the relevant provisions of international humanitarian and human rights law, and should pro-
mote the incorporation of these provisions in their practice and in the basic training of forensic specialists.

The recommendations of the International Conference of Governmental and Non-Governmental Experts on the Miss-
ing and their Families also include practical guidelines for the search, recovery, management, analysis and identifica-
tion of those killed in armed conflicts and similar contexts, including:
6 of 16 TIDBALL-BINZ AND CORDNER

a. The roles, duties, and responsibilities and the applicable ethical standards for forensic professionals and teams.
b. Guidelines for the documentation and storage of human remains and associated evidence.
c. The use of different forensic disciplines, methods, and criteria for human forensic identification based on the com-
prehensive use of them.
d. The principles for the ethical, effective and efficient management of information, including the collection and com-
parison of ante-mortem and post-mortem data.
e. Counseling on the relationship between forensic doctors and grieving families and communities.

Following the Conference, the ICRC acquired, for the first time in its history, its own forensic capacity, in order to
ensure the dissemination and implementation of the recommendations regarding the use of forensic science to prevent
and resolve disappearances. This led to the establishment of the Forensic Services and then the Forensic Unit of the
ICRC and to its pioneering use of forensic sciences for exclusively humanitarian purposes. These were mainly to assist
the search and identification of persons missing in armed conflicts the world over, resulting in the creation of the new
discipline of humanitarian forensic action.
Thanks to this, the ICRC now has the only forensic structure in the world dedicated exclusively to humanitarian
forensic action: a Forensic Unit that operates globally with more than 90 specialists from various forensic specialties,
including medicine, pathology, anthropology, dentistry, archeology, genetics, and criminology.
In general terms, the role of the Unit is to advise, educate, train, and improve the existing capacity of forensic medi-
cine and related sciences in the countries in which the ICRC operates, to develop standards of best forensic practices
that apply to humanitarian activities. and assist in their implementation. ICRC experts also participate, when circum-
stances so require, in humanitarian forensic actions in contexts of armed conflict, other situations of violence and major
catastrophes, including those derived from migration.
It should be noted that the recommendations of the 2003 Conference have also been of great value in guiding local
processes and actions in humanitarian forensic action in various countries around the world and are still a benchmark
in the matter. For example, in 2007, Colombia incorporated the recommendations into its own legislation, as part of the
National Plan for the Search for Disappeared Persons. Humanitarian forensic action also offers a framework for the sea-
rch, recovery, identification, and repatriation of conflict casualties worldwide (Marquez-Grant & Errickson, 2021).
Despite the progress made since the 2003 Conference in resolving and preventing disappearances, current humani-
tarian crises, including armed conflicts in the Middle East, natural disasters, and the migration crisis mean that the
tragedy of missing persons has not diminished and is probably accelerating in scale and in complexity. This poses new
challenges in many domains, including for humanitarian forensic action.
This led the ICRC to redouble its efforts in this area, including with the launch in 2018 of a new (ongoing) Project
on Missing Persons, in order to develop standards, principles, and guidelines necessary to respond to these new chal-
lenges, including those of humanitarian forensic action.
Predictably, humanitarian forensic action has proven invaluable in responding to situations of natural disasters with
large numbers of fatalities. Such humanitarian emergencies require forensic guides, skills, and resources similar to
those used in humanitarian emergencies arising from armed conflict. For example, the management of the dead follow-
ing the Tsunami that hit Southeast Asia in late 2004 led the ICRC and the International Federation of Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies agreeing with the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization on
the need to develop together a guide for the management of dead bodies in disasters to fill the gap in this area. The gap,
really a void, was tragically in evidence after the Tsunami. On that occasion, the first response teams realized the lack
of adequate guides to carry out this difficult but indispensable task, with the result that thousands of deaths in many
countries, many exposed to the elements and predators, were never identified.
The joint initiative led to the development of the first manual of its kind, entitled “Management of Dead Bodies after
Disasters: A Field Manual for First Responders,” published in 2006, and updated in 2016. The guide explains in a clear,
didactic and practical way, the steps to be followed by the first responders to ensure the search, recovery, documenta-
tion and dignified, professional and safe management of a large number of bodies and to facilitate their identification,
as well as adequate attention to family members. It has been translated into more than 15 languages and has become a
must-have guide around the world for first responders, professionals, and institutions involved in responding to major
disasters.
This manual complements the Guide for the Identification of Victims of Disasters prepared by INTERPOL. This is
the international standard for human identification in general, but is focused on small and medium sized disasters
where forensic and related resources are more or less immediately available. In larger scale humanitarian crises, society
TIDBALL-BINZ AND CORDNER 7 of 16

is often paralyzed or broken down, the number of dead may be in the hundreds and thousands or more, and forensic
resources either do not exist or are not available; these are the contexts where humanitarian forensic action does
its work.

5 | T H E CO N T R I B U T I O N O F H F A T O B U I L D I N G P E A C E

In February 2003 Sergio Viera de Mello, then United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, opened the Inter-
national Conference of Governmental and Non-Governmental Experts on the Missing and their Families with the fol-
lowing words: “My experience has taught me that the disappeared are often the most contentious issue in peace-making,
the question that makes confidence-building all the more difficult, and rightly so” (UN News, 2003). He made a fervent
call to develop and implement new tools to prevent and resolve disappearances around the world, including to help
peace-building processes.
Echoing the words of Sergio Vieira de Mello cited above, in recent years humanitarian forensic action has shown
that, in addition to contributing to compliance with international law, it can also contribute to building peace. Two
recent examples of the truth of this are the work of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) in Cyprus and the
Humanitarian Project Plan (HPP) for the identification of Argentine soldiers buried in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas).

5.1 | The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus

The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) was created in Cyprus in the 1970s under UN General Assembly
Resolutions to search for people who disappeared during the 1974 Cypriot conflict in order to fulfill requirements under
IHL, that is, for humanitarian purposes. However, until the beginning of this century, the CMP, which lacked any
forensic capacity, had failed to resolve any cases. As a result, in 2004 the CMP requested the assistance of the ICRC's
Forensic Services to help develop its own forensic search and identification capacity, in accordance with the recommen-
dations of the 2003 International Conference on The Missing and their Families. The ICRC provided the support and
advice requested, focusing its assistance for the CMP on the development of local forensic capacity and in accordance
with the guidelines for humanitarian forensic action, fundamentally through the advice and training of a sustainable
local team of scientists, composed of Greek and Turkish Cypriots, the first bi-communal team of its kind.
In addition to advising on the construction of a purpose-build mortuary and training the young scientists, the
ICRC's Forensic Services also rallied forensic experts from different countries (for example, Argentina, the United
States, Colombia, and the United Kingdom), to assist in building the capacity of the CMP's novel forensic team.
As a result, the CMP today has its own fully Cypriot forensic team, which has developed an exemplary integrated
approach to the forensic search, recovery, and identification of those missing from the past conflict.
To date, the CMP has managed to recover, identify and return to their families a total of 985 previously disappeared
persons, thus becoming a true international model of good practice in the field of humanitarian forensic action
(Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus, 2021).
Through its humanitarian forensic action, the CMP has also established itself as a successful example of cooperation
and local integration and peacebuilding: its multidisciplinary team of talented forensic experts is made up of young
Cypriots from both communities on the island, working together and harmoniously for the sake of a noble shared
humanitarian objective: to find their disappeared and thereby overcome the wounds of the past (Mikellide, 2017; Zorba
et al., 2020).

5.2 | The humanitarian project plan

The HPP was a humanitarian operation, unprecedented in scope and scale, carried out in 2017 by a forensic team from
the ICRC, at the request of Argentina and the United Kingdom. The operation resulted in the identification, to date, of
115 of the 122 soldiers buried without identification in the Argentine military cemetery of Darwin in the Falkland
Islands (Malvinas) (UN News, 2019) following the conclusion of the 1982 war between both countries. As a result, the
tombstones that used to read “Argentine soldier known only to God” today bear a name, thereby assuring their families
the fundamental right to know the fate of their loved ones and where they are.
8 of 16 TIDBALL-BINZ AND CORDNER

The Project was originally requested by relatives of unidentified soldiers and some veterans of the war and was
agreed upon and supported by both Parties to the 1982 armed conflict in the South Atlantic.
The HPP required firstly extensive humanitarian diplomacy on the part of the ICRC to broker the necessary agree-
ment between the parties and then a complex and unprecedented forensic operation of exhumation, analysis, documen-
tation, and reburial of each of the bodies buried without a name for more than three decades, for their reliable
identification and using methods and processes expressly developed for the operation.
Although the unidentified soldiers were formally considered as missing in action, it was known for certain that they
had died on the battlefield. After the war they had been recovered and respectfully and honorably buried in a specially
built military cemetery near the hamlet of Darwin, although without identification due to the technical limitations at
the time to make this possible. All agreed that they deserved to recover their identity. In particular, it was essential for
their relatives to identify their loved ones, including to be able to honor them in their respective graves.
The forensic operation today serves as a model for the new discipline of humanitarian forensic action. It overcame
important logistical difficulties, including those related to the establishment of a high-tech mortuary with equipment
required for the operation, despite the geographic isolation and extreme climatic conditions prevailing there. Complex
forensic issues, including those inherent in an integrated, large-scale identification process with short and tight dead-
lines, needed to be resolved. Throughout the operation, meticulous quality control was applied and maximum respect
for the dignity of the dead was maintained, at the same time as complying with the multiple and demanding legal and
diplomatic requirements for the operation, to the satisfaction of the families and the parties concerned.
The process has unquestionably contributed to the dialogue and rapprochement between the parties on an issue as
noble as shared humanitarian objectives and for this reason it has also aroused interest in other contexts where the res-
olution of cases of missing persons as a result of armed conflicts is a pending debt.
In consideration of this interest, the background and forensic operation of the HPP are described in more detail
below.

5.2.1 | Background of the humanitarian project plan

Immediately after the end of the armed conflict between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands
(Malvinas) in June 1982, the British Party recovered from the battlefield the Argentine soldiers who died in combat,
tried to identify them, provide them a dignified burial and document and report their whereabouts. All the bodies were
duly buried in a specially built military cemetery near the islands' hamlet of Darwin.
Despite efforts at the time to identify all the fallen, a certain number could not be identified and were therefore bur-
ied without a name, with the inscription “Known unto God”, a phrase used worldwide by the Commonwealth War
Grave Commission (CWGC) for the graves of unknown soldiers (CWGC, 2021). The phrase was devised by the poet
Rudyard Kipling, who worked for the CWGC during the First World War. In the reconstruction of the Argentine mili-
tary cemetery of Darwin, carried out in 2001 by the Commission of Relatives of the Fallen in Malvinas and Islas del
Atlantico Sur, with the support of an Argentine private company (Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 SA), those graves came
to bear the epitaph “Soldado argentino solo conocido por Dios (Argentine soldier known only to God).”
In April 2012, the ICRC received a request from the Argentine Republic to assist in the identification of all the sol-
diers buried without a name in Darwin military cemetery.
The ICRC accepted Argentina's request, focusing strictly on its humanitarian role and based on the needs and inter-
ests of the families.
This was followed by intense diplomatic work in Geneva, Buenos Aires and London in order to advance the negotia-
tions and prepare for the complex mission required with full agreement of all those concerned. Likewise, from 2014
onwards, the ICRC worked closely with Argentine authorities for the collection of the necessary information and sam-
ples from participating families required for identification purposes, together with their informed consent. An interdis-
ciplinary group, including forensic scientists, psychologists, social workers, and lawyers, was created by the Argentine
Government for this purpose, which continued with the interviews following commonly agreed protocols.
A fundamental step in designing the project was a preliminary visit carried out to the islands in mid-2016 by an
ICRC delegation. This included a feasibility study, including the collection and analysis of soil samples, the determina-
tion of the special infrastructure and equipment required for the task in the extreme isolation and weather conditions
prevailing on site as well as the logistical requirements in order to meet those needs. That visit confirmed the possibility
of carrying out the identification process and provided the evidence-based information required for designing and
TIDBALL-BINZ AND CORDNER 9 of 16

preparing the forensic operation. The visit also made it possible to help ensure the essential support required from the
local population to facilitate the operation.
The logistical challenge of ensuring the installation and proper functioning of everything necessary for the operation
required months of preparatory work and also the support of the local population, motivated by the humanitarian
objective of the task.

5.2.2 | The forensic operation of the humanitarian project plan

At the end of 2016 high diplomatic representatives of the Argentine Republic and the United Kingdom were invited by
the ICRC to its headquarters in Geneva to negotiate the terms of the project and on 20 December of that year both
countries and the ICRC signed the agreement setting up the HPP. This defined the objectives, roles, responsibilities and
deadlines for the execution of the operation, as well as the forensic process required and in accordance with the ICRC's
proposal.
After a long consultation process conducted by the Argentine authorities, 107 families from all over the country had
come forward to participate in the process. It was then decided that the consultations with remaining families would
continue to inform the missing families directly about this initiative and collect from those who so wished the informa-
tion and the biological/DNA samples required for the identification of their loved ones.
Between December 2016 and May 2017, the ICRC proceeded to finalize preparations for the forensic operation. This
required defining the standard operating procedures, protocols and forms required for each of the stages of the humani-
tarian forensic operation, from the exhumation, analysis, sampling, and documentation, to the reburial of the bodies.
This aimed to ensure, guide and facilitate:

• the systematic collection of the necessary information and samples;

• adequate and reliable documentation of all findings, including as required for the integrated identification of the
bodies;
• the quality control of all the procedures used and surety of the investigation throughout;
• the drafting of protocolized reports—in English and Spanish—for every step in each case;
• the guaranteed respect for the dignity of the remains and the cemetery site throughout the entire process.

All forensic activities followed pre-defined plans, flow charts, and schedules, prepared in advance for the operation.
A specially equipped temporary mortuary and forensic laboratory was designed and installed at the Darwin military
cemetery. It was decided to equip it with state-of-the-art equipment and technology, including for the systematic radiog-
raphy of all the bodies and body parts analyzed. As required by the HPP, the site included a surveyed security perimeter
with strict access protocols.
In view of the fact that there are no forensic genetic services available in the islands, the HPP provided that samples
collected for DNA analysis to assist the identification process would be transferred to laboratories in Argentina, the
United Kingdom, and Spain. The matching process was carried out by the same forensic genetics laboratory in Argen-
tina that had profiled the samples from relatives, while laboratories in Spain and the United Kingdom carried out the
required quality control of tests agreed for the process. The latter laboratories unanimously confirmed the reliability of
the analysis and results obtained in Argentina.
The format of the forensic genetics' reports, as well as the prior and posterior probabilities required for matching
calculations and the identification threshold were defined beforehand jointly with the participating laboratories.
An elaborate computer support system was designed for the operation, which allowed the management and
safeguarding of all the data and information produced and required in real time and with total security. To this was
added a forensic database especially designed by the ICRC for large-scale identification processes.
Between the end of May and the end of August 2017, an ICRC forensic team composed of 14 specialists from Argen-
tina, Australia, Chile, Spain, Mexico, and the United Kingdom, carefully selected for the operation and representing dif-
ferent forensic disciplines and experienced in humanitarian forensic action, moved to the islands to carry out the field
and laboratory tasks necessary to complete the Project.
Between June and August 2017, the forensic team proceeded to exhume, analyze, obtain samples, and document
each of the bodies that were buried in the 121 graves in the cemetery marked with the legend “Argentine soldier known
only to God.”
10 of 16 TIDBALL-BINZ AND CORDNER

The forensic work was intensive, from dawn to dusk, 6 days a week in order to meet the deadlines set for the opera-
tion. The forensic team operated in a truly multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary manner to help ensure the daily com-
pletion of pre-assigned tasks, the necessary reporting and quality assurance and control procedures.
The exhumation of each body, using adapted archeological methods and procedures, was systematically followed by
their meticulous analysis (including full radiology and photography), their documentation and the taking of samples
for subsequent genetic analysis.
After completing the analysis, documentation and sampling required for each body, the forensic experts proceeded
to place the body in a new coffin for burial in the original grave, on the same day of the body's exhumation and with
full respect for the dignity of the deceased. The same day recovery, analysis and re-burial of the bodies was a require-
ment under the HPP, which the forensic team had to honor while ensuring at the same time the highest scientific stan-
dards. The reports for each case were prepared on the same day as their analysis, in Spanish and English, ready for
completion once the genetic results were made available, several weeks later.
A small number of personal objects of special emotional and/or identification value were found with some of the
bodies, such as identification cards and wedding rings. The exhaustive forensic examination, including the use of state-
of-the-art radiological equipment, helped find these objects among the several layers of clothing worn by the soldiers.
They had been understandably overlooked by non-forensic servicemen at the time of recovery from the battlefield. In
consideration that there is an obligation under International Humanitarian Law to return such objects to the families
of the fallen, the objects found were preserved and handed over to the Argentine authorities at the end of the HPP.
They were duly presented to concerned families together with the reports which they received about their cases.
At the completion of the field work, the cemetery and its facilities were restored to their original condition, as
required under the HPP. In the weeks that finally followed forensic operations at the site, new grass was planted at the
site to condition it as agreed for this noble task.
In the weeks which followed the forensic operation in the field, the team of forensic specialists met again in Geneva
to integrate the results of the forensic studies carried out on the islands with the results of the genetic analyzes, in order
to finalize the identification reports, in English and in Spanish and to also condition the personal items recovered for
delivery to families. Reports were prepared for all families who submitted samples, including those for whom their
loved one had not been identified.
On December 1, 2017, the date scheduled for presenting the reports, the results of the HPP activities were handed
out to the delegations of Argentina and the United Kingdom at the ICRC headquarters in Geneva. This occurred in the
framework of a diplomatic meeting, the quality of and set out the process, the commitment, and support of all those
who collaborated in the operation and the results achieved.
At the time of delivery of the results in Geneva, the ICRC forensic team had identified 88 soldiers and collected the
information and processed samples necessary to make it possible to identify all the 34 remaining bodies, provided that
the necessary information and samples be made available by concerned families. (To date [January 2021], a total of
115 soldiers, out of 122 buried in Darwin without a name, have been positively identified and their families informed
accordingly).
In the days following the delivery of the reports in Geneva, the Argentine authorities proceeded to inform all the
participating families, personally and confidentially, about the results of the operation and to deliver the corresponding
reports and personal belongings to them. This highly sensitive process followed good practices in the matter, shared in
advance by the ICRC to the intervening teams, who also received training on this respect from the organization's
experts.
In March 2018 and 2019 the families of the soldiers identified as a result of the HPP were able to visit their loved
ones' graves, with their names newly engraved in their tombstones. The visits were organized jointly by the British and
Argentine authorities, with logistical support provided for the flights to the islands by the Argentine private company
(Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 SA).
The magnanimous and profoundly humanitarian ceremonies held on both occasions in the islands' Argentine mili-
tary cemetery were made possible by an unprecedented combination of diplomacy at the service of humanitarian prin-
ciples and the innovative use of forensic science to make them a reality. They also fostered a renewed dialogue and
cooperation between former foes, including for opening new commercial flights between Argentina and the islands,
thus contributing to a peace building process between those affected by war.
This also paved the way for a follow-up of the HPP, to help individualize the bodies of a small group of Argentine
servicemen who died together in a helicopter crash during the conflict and whose fragmented and commingled remains
were buried together in Darwin military cemetery. Because their grave includes the names of the fallen it was not
TIDBALL-BINZ AND CORDNER 11 of 16

included in the original HPP. However, based on the success of the latter, concerned families have requested another
humanitarian forensic operation to help identify each of the bodies of their loved ones. The agreement between the
ICRC and the Parties was signed on March 18, 2021, for implementation as soon as reasonably possible and based on
the model developed for the HPP forensic operation (ICRC, 2021b).
Today the Humanitarian Project Plan stands as an example of the unquestionable contribution of humanitarian
forensic action for the fulfillment of obligations under international humanitarian law and arguably also as a tool for
peace building. As such, and beyond the success of the HPP forensic operation, it provides a model for similar opera-
tions in the future and other parts of the world (ICRC, 2018a).

6 | THE FUTURE O F H UM ANITARIAN F ORENSIC A CTION

The remarkable development of humanitarian forensic action in the last 15 years is a measure of its practical value and
recognition throughout the world as a useful tool for fulfilling humanitarian obligations and responding to needs aris-
ing from humanitarian emergencies, past and present. But it also needs to respond to emerging challenges such as
tragic events resulting from the massive growth in migrant flows, including deaths and disappearances of migrants in
the Mediterranean.
The development of humanitarian forensic action combines evolving forensic science with humanitarian practices
in general. Humanitarian forensic action offers an opportunity for necessary cross-fertilization between these two previ-
ously distant worlds of human knowledge and activity. Close attention is required however to ensure that such cross-
fertilization is guided by the highest ethical and professional values, as well as the necessary quality standards; and that
the perspectives, the needs and the rights of victims of humanitarian tragedies are respected throughout.
The last handful of years has seen increasing research and practice in humanitarian forensic action applied to
protecting and assisting victims of violence, including for substantiating evidence-based interventions on behalf of vic-
tims of torture, extreme deprivation and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. This is
opening a new chapter in humanitarian forensic science focused on the living (in addition to the dead and missing),
which is helping forensic practitioners and humanitarian workers better understand, document and respond to some of
the extreme medico-legal and humanitarian consequences of armed conflict and other situations of violence affecting
many of the survivors of these events.
In effect, the scope of humanitarian forensic action in the early part of the last decade focused primarily,
although not exclusively, on preventing and resolving the missing from armed conflicts; and then on managing the
dead. This led some to naturally wonder about the pertinence of such a narrow approach for the application of
forensic science (Rosenblatt, 2019). Such concerns are no longer valid in light of recent developments in this field,
as illustrated by the Special Edition on Humanitarian Forensic Action by Forensic Science International published
in 2018 (Tidball-Binz et al., 2018), the first of its kind. This featured 17 original articles on the discipline, covering
a range of topics, from resolving and preventing the phenomenon of missing persons in armed conflicts and catas-
trophes to the documentation of torture; of sexual violence and the prevention of human trafficking as well as tack-
ling the humanitarian tragedy of deceased and unidentified migrants. Some of the articles in this special edition
registered the highest readership “hits” for the Journal during the year following their publication (C. Cattaneo
[personal communication, 2019]).
These are new topics of research and practice in humanitarian forensic action, even as the proper and dignified
management of the dead and preventing the missing in humanitarian emergencies remain core preoccupations.
For example, in December 2018 the ICRC and the University of Geneva convened experts from around the
world to begin drafting principles to protect the dignity of the dead in humanitarian emergencies and prevent them
from becoming missing persons (Garibian et al., 2020). The resulting Guiding Principles on the Dignified Manage-
ment of the Dead in Humanitarian Emergencies and to Prevent Them from Becoming Missing Persons were finalized
in 2020 and are now open for public comment before their publication planned for June 2021 (ICRC, 2020). They
remind decision-makers, managers and practitioners responding to humanitarian emergencies about the importance
of the dignified management of the dead, including respect for their families, and complying with applicable law.
The Guiding Principles also complement and underpin existing technical guidelines and manuals on the manage-
ment of the dead. Their effective implementation will help decision makers, managers and practitioners achieve the
reliable identification of large numbers of fatalities in humanitarian emergencies, including to prevent them from
becoming missing persons.
12 of 16 TIDBALL-BINZ AND CORDNER

6.1 | Preparing for an unpredictable future

Humanitarian crises are fundamentally unpredictable and responding to them requires preparation and innovation, as
recognized by ICRC jurist Vincent Bernard: “Unpredictability is more than ever the rule in the humanitarian field, and
there can be no question either of predicting or of preventing future crisis but rather of preparing for them … The ability of
humanitarian actors to aid the victim tomorrow will depend on their ability to improve their tools of preparation and rapid
response” (Bernard, 2011, p. 896).
This understanding is compounded with the deadly scale of most humanitarian crises since 2003:

a. Post-invasion violence in Iraq (2003–2019, more than 500,000 dead and missing).
b. Earthquake, southeastern Iran (2003, ~30,000 dead).
c. Tsunami in the Indian Ocean (2004, ~230,000 dead and missing).
d. Hurricane Katrina, United States (2005, 1836 dead).
e. Earthquake, Kashmir, Pakistan (2005, ~80,000 dead).
f. European heat wave (2006, ~3400 deaths).
g. Earthquake, Indonesia (2006, ~6000 dead and missing).
h. Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar (2008, ~130,000 dead and missing).
i. Earthquake, East Sichuan, China (2008, ~88,000 dead and missing).
j. Earthquake, Haiti (2010, ~316,000 dead and missing).
k. Floods, Pakistan (2010, ~2000 dead and missing).
l. Earthquake and Tsunami, Japan (2011, 15,550 deaths).
m. Typhoon Haiyan, Philippines (2013, ~9000 dead and missing).
n. Ebola epidemic, West Africa (2014–2015, 11,308 deaths).
o. Heat wave, India and Pakistan (2015, ~2500 deaths in each country).
p. Syrian conflict (2011–2019, ~500,000 dead and 200,000 missing).
q. Earthquake, Nepal (2015, ~9000 dead and missing).
r. Mass deaths associated with migrations in Africa, from the Middle East to Europe and elsewhere, within Asia and
from Asia to Australasia, as well as in Central and North America (more than 50,000 dead and missing).

The most recent example of the scale that some humanitarian emergencies can acquire today is COVID-19, the disease
caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which emerged at the end of 2019 and was declared a Public Health
Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization on 30 January 2020.
As of January 2021, more than 100,000,000 COVID-19 cases were officially reported in more than 200 countries and
territories, resulting in more than 2,200,000 deaths (Worldometer, 2021), which in many contexts overwhelmed the
existing capacity to properly handle fatalities (Finegan et al., 2020).
This led organizations such as the World Health Organization and the ICRC to issue guidelines for governments
around the world for the proper and dignified management of deaths caused by the pandemic and to support them in
their implementation (Inter-Agency Standing Committee, 2020). Despite this, in many regions and contexts, the local
capacity to deal with the crisis has been overwhelmed, including to ensure the dignified management of the deceased
and their families, even leading in some cases to the loss of the remains of the deceased, who thus became missing per-
sons, as was first reported in some countries in Latin America.
As exemplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, the magnitude and scale of humanitarian emergencies have increased
as a result of population growth and density, especially affecting fragile urban areas.
In addition to the above, armed conflicts have increased in complexity and in their deadly effects on civilian
populations in urban areas, as for example in Syria, with serious humanitarian consequences at the local level and in
the surrounding communities, countries and further afield (e.g., the resulting waves of migration to the west). These
are aggravated by other trends, such as population growth and mobility, increasing numbers of older people, increased
urbanization, increasing economic inequality between populations, and increasing ecological fragility.
Adding to this list is the growing recognition of the near-pandemic scale of sexual and gender-based violence
throughout the world, aggravated in situations of armed conflict and which also require humanitarian forensic inter-
ventions for their effective documentation, resolution, and prevention.
These facts are reminders of the complexity of future humanitarian crises and the need to prepare and adapt
humanitarian forensic action accordingly, for which research and innovation are growingly indispensable.
TIDBALL-BINZ AND CORDNER 13 of 16

6.2 | Research

Applied research should be an integral part of humanitarian forensic action to ensure that it responds to new chal-
lenges effectively, efficiently, and reliably. Such research therefore must be proactively encouraged and supported.
As importantly, research in humanitarian forensic action needs to be promoted and supported on a global scale, for
which the Humanitarian and Human Rights Resource Center, launched by the American Academy of Forensic Science
in 2015, sets a model (American Academy of Forensic Sciences, 2021).
The HHRRC uses AAFS assets (which includes people, funds, and access to equipment) to support research and
development projects in the use of forensic science and forensic medicine applied to humanitarian and/or human rights
activities. Since its creation the HHRRC has in fact become a leading platform for the development of humanitarian
forensic action. Some of the research projects it has funded to date include the following:

• Methodologies for the preservation of the remains of victims of the genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge in
Cambodia.
• Use of stable isotopic markers to determine the origin of unidentified human remains of deceased persons on the
Texas-Mexico border.
• Technical strengthening of the forensic laboratory created within the National Human Rights Commission of the
Philippines for the investigation of human rights violations.
• Development of a fully computerized osteometric classification method for pairwise comparison in sets of intermixed
human bone remains.
• Development of detection methods for neuro-toxic agents (prohibited weapons) in human bone tissue.
• Technical strengthening of the Human Identification Department in Tlaxcala, Mexico.
• Strengthening of forensic identification of deceased migrants from the Mediterranean region.
• Aging of unaccompanied migrant minors
• Decomposition and taphonomy studies to assist in the estimation of time since death
• Geo-localization of clandestine burials

In a similar vein, the world's first International Center for Humanitarian Forensics (ICHF) was launched on 20 June
2018 in Gujarat, India by the NFSU in collaboration with the ICRC with the aim of institutionalizing humanitarian
forensic action within an existing university system (ICRC, 2018b; NFSU, 2018). More recently, the University of Coim-
bra in Portugal approved in November 2019 the creation of a new Center for Humanitarian and Human Rights Forensic
Research and Training, dedicated exclusively to the investigation, training and promotion of forensic sciences applied
both to human rights investigations and humanitarian action. It will offer a platform for cooperation in humanitarian
and human rights forensic sciences research and training among academic institutions worldwide. The launch of the
Center, planned for, 2020 was delayed for 2021 due to the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Another valuable resource for research, training and cooperation in humanitarian forensic action at regional level
are the regional professional networks, such as the Ibero-American Network of Institutes of Legal Medicine and Forensic
Services (Red Iberoamericana de Instituciones de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses), launched in 2007 with the support
of the ICRC and presently supported by the University of Coimbra (Ibero American Network, 2007). The Network has
become a model for similar developments in other regions and a platform for regional exchange and cooperation in
forensic activities, ranging from training to cross-border collaboration in disasters and mass fatality events.
Similarly, the African Society of Forensic Medicine (ASFM), launched in 2010 in Botswana, with the support of the
Government of that country and also of Australia. The network is the only of its kind in Africa and has served as a valu-
able platform for academic exchanges, cooperation and training. The ASFM published in 2015 its “Minimum Standards
for the Practice of Forensic Medicine in Africa.” A 78-page practical guide that deals with autopsy practice, mortuary
management, identification of disaster victims, and documentation of sexual violence (ASFM, 2015).
In the Asia-Pacific region, the Asia Pacific Medico-Legal Agencies (APMLA, 2021) was launched in 2012, bringing
together a large number of professionals from 18 Asian and Pacific nations and has since become a rich source of
research and publication of standards related to humanitarian forensic action, adapted to the needs of the region, for
example:

• The handling of fragmentary human remains in major catastrophes.

• The management of international assistance teams in major catastrophes.
14 of 16 TIDBALL-BINZ AND CORDNER

• Training in the handling of bodies for first responders.

• Planning for the temporary storage of corpses in major catastrophes.

In Latin America, the Latin American Forensic Anthropology Association (Asociacion Latinoamerica de Antropologia
Forense, 2021), created in 2003, is today a model of a regional forensic network, contributing to research, training, and
publications, similar to its European counterpart, the Forensic Anthropology Society of Europe (FASE, 2021).

6.3 | Teaching and training

There are still insufficient numbers of qualified forensic professionals to meet the growing requirements for humanitar-
ian forensic action worldwide, especially in those regions and countries most pressed for their services, a fact often com-
pounded by the lack of sufficient training facilities in those same countries.
In response to this, some academic centers of excellence around the world, such as the Victorian Institute of Forensic
Medicine and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, as well as the University of Toronto in Canada have developed
special programs to offer high quality training in forensic medicine and sciences to young professionals from around the
world and generously support their training. This has positively helped fill important gaps in certain regions.
However, this ad hoc approach has its flaws. Only a relatively small number of professionals can be trained and the
professional experience obtained in one setting may have little or no applicability in a very different one. Thus, for
example, training in forensic pathology in a highly developed and resource intensive setting with relatively low case-
work may not correspond to the needs of a student from a resource-strained environment overwhelmed by extreme vio-
lence, where the number of autopsies precludes detailed studies.
For this reason, there needs to be more training capacity offered directly in the regions that need it, and that it be
adapted to local realities and needs. This requires training centers or programs in the regions concerned, using local
resources, but also including internationally renowned trainers, in order to make such training attractive to young
professionals.
This principle is easy to enunciate, but there are many obstacles to overcome, one of which is the global shortage of
forensic doctors and scientists available to train and engage in humanitarian forensic action.
There are, however, some very encouraging initiatives in this area. Some are mentioned in the previous section.
Others, include tailored programs for training practitioners in their corresponding working environments. For example,
in 2014 the Argentine Team of Forensic Anthropology (EAAF) established a regional training center for Africa, based
in Pretoria, South Africa, in collaboration with the Argentine Foreign Ministry and the University of Pretoria and, as of
2016, also with the ICRC: the African School of Humanitarian Forensic Action (EAAF, 2021; ICRC, 2016).
Similarly, over the last 15 years the ICRC has successfully helped train hundreds of forensic professionals in more
than 30 countries in all regions of the globe, as part of integrated programs with local and regional forensic institutions
or academic centers.
It is also expected that the International Center for Humanitarian Forensics the Gujarat Forensic Sciences Univer-
sity in India, and the recently launched University of Coimbra Center for Humanitarian and Human Rights Forensic
Research and Training will help design, develop, and implement training programs where required, in direct collabora-
tion with local universities and academic institutions.

7 | C ON C L U S I ON

Forensic practice has always had a humanitarian dimension, including in its contribution to clarifying the whereabouts
of missing persons. However, in recent decades this has developed into the new discipline of Humanitarian Forensic
Action: a field of forensic science dedicated exclusively to humanitarian activities, such as the search for the dead and
disappeared from the Spanish Civil War (Herrasti et al., 2021).
This novel discipline emerged in Latin America thanks to the visionary contribution of the Grandmothers of Plaza
de Mayo and the initial work of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF), dedicated to the investigations of
disappearances in Argentina; and it developed to help make effective obligations under International Humanitarian
Law and International Human Rights Law, including the proper management of the dead from armed conflicts and
investigating and preventing disappearances and unlawful killings.
TIDBALL-BINZ AND CORDNER 15 of 16

The ICRC's experiment with a forensic consultant in 2003 and the creation of its Forensic Services (later the Forensic Unit)
in 2004, initially focused on the prevention and resolution of disappearances, helped define and consolidate this emerging disci-
pline as an innovative and valuable contribution of forensic science to humanitarian efforts all over the world.
Further development of humanitarian forensic action, increasingly supported by specific scientific research, publications
and high-quality training, as well as the creation of professional networks that include this new discipline among their activi-
ties, will contribute to strengthening the humanitarian response to new challenges arising from armed conflicts and cata-
strophic events around the world. It will also assist in peace building efforts and processes, including by helping prevent and
resolve the missing, as suggested by Sergio Vieira de Mello, to whose memory we dedicate this article.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article.

A U T H O R C ON T R I B U T I O NS
Morris Tidball-Binz: Conceptualization; writing - original draft. Stephen Cordner: Conceptualization; data curation;
formal analysis; methodology; writing - original draft; writing-review & editing.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study

ORCID
Morris V. Tidball-Binz https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9027-0845

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How to cite this article: Tidball-Binz, M. V., & Cordner, S. (2022). Humanitarian forensic action: A new
forensic discipline helping to implement international law and construct peace. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews:
Forensic Science, 4(1), e1438. https://doi.org/10.1002/wfs2.1438