Numbers Continue Rising Six Years After Security Council Adopted Resolution 2474 (2019) on Missing Persons in Armed Conflict, Speakers Warn, Urging Action to Implement Text

Note: Full coverage of today's meeting of the Security Council will be available on 16 May.

As the Security Council met today to consider the issue of persons reported missing in armed conflict, speakers — including a woman whose father was abducted during the Korean War and a father whose son’s remains have yet to be returned from the one in Gaza — illustrated that the number of such persons has only continued to increase since the adoption of a resolution on this matter almost six years ago.

“In 2024 alone, the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] registered 56,000 new cases of missing persons,” said Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations. International humanitarian law, he said, prohibits forced disappearance and requires parties to conflict to take all feasible measures to account for those reported missing, while also enshrining their families’ right to information about their fate.

Nevertheless, he stated that ongoing hostilities between Israel and Palestinian armed groups “continue to generate grave concerns” under resolution 2474 (2019).  While welcoming the recent release of Edan Alexander as a “source of hope”, he pointed out that an estimated 58 Israeli hostages — 35 of them presumed dead — remain unaccounted for in Gaza.  “Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians — including children — also remain missing,” he said, adding that Israel continues to withhold the remains of deceased Palestinians, hindering families’ access to information and closure.

He also detailed the plight of Ukrainian civilians detained in areas under Russian Federation occupation and individuals missing in Myanmar; encouraged the repatriation of remains from the Korean War; and spotlighted the missing-persons crisis in Syria as a “tragically defining feature” of that conflict.  “Disappearances of loved ones create long-term trauma on families and communities,” he underscored, spotlighting the importance of respect for international law to the search for missing persons.  He concluded:  “Resolution 2474 (2019) must be fully implemented, with urgency.”

Korean War Abductees First, Largest Case of Enforced Disappearance

Next, Sung Eui Lee, Chief Director of the Korean War Abductees’ Family Union, said that she has been waiting for 75 years “for my father to come back”.  Her father, who was a 42-year-old attorney at the time, was taken to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea during the Korean War.  She was only 18 months old at the time, “having no memory of him”.  Yet, despite the “clear evidence”, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea never admitted to the “abduction crime”, she said.

This crime, she stressed, is ongoing — “the first and largest case of enforced disappearance” — and involves almost 100,000 victims.  If this case was properly resolved when it occurred, subsequent crimes committed in many other countries — such as Japan, Thailand and Romania — could have been prevented.  “This”, she underscored, “is why the issue of Korean War abductees must be resolved first”, as it is the key to resolving the cases that followed.

“Please let the DPRK confirm the life and death and repatriate the victims of war even if they have passed away,” she urged the Council, underlining the need to hold those responsible accountable.  “Time is running short — many of the siblings and spouses of the abductees have already passed away,” she continued, calling on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to confirm the state of missing loved ones.  “I sincerely believe that the Security Council will be at the front and take [up] this issue to resolve,” she added.

Hostages’ Families Urge Creation of Dedicated UN Mandate-Holder to Address Issue

Ruby Chen — the father of Itay Chen, a hostage still held in Gaza — then urged the Council to demand that Hamas release the deceased hostages in their possession.  Resolution 2474 (2019) must not remain symbolic — it must be enforced.  He pointed out that, despite that resolution, there is no specific mandate within the United Nations dedicated to addressing hostage-taking as a distinct violation of international law.

“This omission leaves families like us without a focal point, without guidance and without adequate representation,” he said, calling on the Council and the Secretary-General to establish a dedicated UN mandate-holder tasked with monitoring the implementation of resolution 2474 (2019) and addressing the broader range of violations and harms associated with hostage-taking.  Such a mandate-holder would provide institutional leadership and coordinate international responses.

“We, the US hostage families, and the 54 other families with hostages in Gaza are collateral damage,” he said, adding:  “Yeah, collateral damage is the best thing I got in a conflict that has been going on for decades.  We want Itay back and his physical status — whatever it might be — does not make him any less of a hostage.”  He therefore requested Council support to enable “families of this tragic fate to have closure and then have, at least, the ability to move on to the next sad chapter in life”.

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