Message of the ICRC to the President of the I.P.O. concerning the issue of Kuwaiti POWs and missing persons (27 April 1993)

COMITÉ INTERNATIONAL DE LA CROIX-ROUGE

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS

AGENCE CENTRALE DE RECHERCHES
CENTRAL TRACING AGENCY

FAX FROM:
International Committee of the Red Cross
19, avenue de la PaixCH 1202 GENEVA

DATE : April 27, 1993

TO : Prof. Dr. Hans KOECHLER
President of the
INTERNATIONAL PROGRESS ORGANIZATION
A-1010 VIENNA, KOHLMARKT 4

Your Excellency,

We refer to your fax 05022/7348280 dated April 15, 1993, and are pleased to inform you an the subject of persons reported missing after the Gulf War.

Since the end of the Gulf conflict, pendingissues related to the implementation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, such as the repatriation of prisoners of war, civilian internees and missing persons and the return of mortal remains, have been dealt with by a special commission made up of representatives of Iraq, France, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Under the auspices of the ICRC, this Commission has held six plenary sessions.

To date, the ICRC has supervised the repatriation from Iraq of 4.299 prisoners of war, i.e. 4.233 Kuwaiti, 29 Saudi, 23 American, 12 British and 2 Italian nationals. It has furthermore supervised the return from Iraq to Kuwait of 1.557 civilians. The repatriations took mainly place immediately after the Gulf War, i.e. during March and April 1991. During 1992, the ICRC supervised the return of 150 civilians from Iraq to Kuwait (of them more than one hundred Kuwaiti).

On March 10, 1992, the Kuwaiti authorities handed the ICRC the latest update of their list of missing persons containing the names of 850 Kuwaitis, stateless persons or other nationals. In addition to this nominal list, the concerned authorities in Kuwait have compiled individual files for most missing persons with personal data and details on their arrest, disappearance or alleged detention.

The Iraqi authorities have committed themselves to respond to the individual files in a detailed and well documented manner.

The ICRC, in its capacity as neutral intermediary and with its expertise in tracing procedures, is assisting the two parties in their tasks. It hopes that progress will be achieved through these conventional procedures.

Hoping to have given you the information you expected, we send you our best regards, and remain,

Yours sincerely,

Monique Crettol Head of Desk Middle-East Sector