The primary purpose behind the establishment of the IIMP is to uphold the right of victims – notably family members – to know the truth about what happened to the many missing persons in Syria.   

The IIMP is in a preparatory phase and has not yet launched its programs to search for missing persons. It is currently designing an initial search plan, with a view to develop and adopt a comprehensive search strategy at a later stage.  Given the vast numbers of persons who have gone missing in Syria, the IIMP will have to establish priority lines of investigation while ensuring a balanced approach to cover all categories of missing persons under its mandate.  

In the short to medium term, the main tasks in the area of determining the fate and whereabouts of missing persons in Syria will include: 

• Mapping of actors that hold relevant information on missing persons in Syria and establishing cooperation agreements to facilitate the sharing of this information; 

• Designing an information management system to securely integrate, store and disaggregate data; 

• Putting in place procedures and systems to register cases of missing persons; 

• Analysing existing information, including structural and contextual analysis of events, to inform the search plan and strategies; 

• Designing an initial search plan, in coordination with families and other relevant actors; 

• Develop procedures, policies and protocols for search-related areas of work. 

The IIMP will strive to ensure that families can meaningfully participate in the search process. They should be able to share information in a way that suits them and should have easy access to information about the search process and any updates, while upholding principles of informed consent, confidentiality and ‘do no harm. Search plans and priorities should be designed and developed in coordination with families.

The IIMP will make use of all available technologies for search activities, and some parts of the search process may be conducted by partners with strong resources and expertise. Searches for missing individuals will benefit from the strategic, collective data gathering and analysis work.