[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4344 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4344

    To authorize the Secretary of State to assist the International 
      Commission on Missing Persons to establish a permanent and 
international legal status with the immunities required for operations 
globally, to continue the financial support of the United States of the 
   ICMP in their work to assist governments and other authorities in 
 locating and identifying persons missing as a result of conflicts or 
natural or man-made disasters, to support the investigation of genocide 
              and mass atrocities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 30, 2012

Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Turner of Ohio, Mr. McIntyre, 
and Mr. Moran) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To authorize the Secretary of State to assist the International 
      Commission on Missing Persons to establish a permanent and 
international legal status with the immunities required for operations 
globally, to continue the financial support of the United States of the 
   ICMP in their work to assist governments and other authorities in 
 locating and identifying persons missing as a result of conflicts or 
natural or man-made disasters, to support the investigation of genocide 
              and mass atrocities, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``International Commission on Missing 
Persons Assistance Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The issue of persons missing from war, violations of 
        human rights, natural disasters, and other involuntary reasons 
        represents a global challenge that affects the United States. 
        Every year an estimated 150,000 persons go missing from natural 
        disasters alone, and globally there are currently over a 
        million reported cases of persons missing from wars and 
        violations of human rights. In addition there are thousands of 
        reported cases a year of persons missing from trafficking, drug 
        related violence, and other causes.
            (2) There continues to be a need, therefore, for an 
        organization with a global reach to assist governments in 
        locating persons who are missing for a myriad of involuntary 
        reasons. The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) 
        is the only organization in the world that has been developed 
        to meet this global need. It has 15 years of experience in 
        assisting governments locate persons missing from wars, human 
        rights abuses, and natural disasters, and there is an 
        increasing demand for ICMP to assist in other missing persons' 
        scenarios, such as, for example, trafficking and drug related 
        violence.
            (3) Since the ICMP was created at the initiative of the 
        United States in 1996 at a G-7 Summit to address the issue of 
        persons missing from the conflicts of the 1990s in the former 
        Yugoslavia, the ICMP has developed a unique, DNA led process 
        that has led to the identification of over 18,000 individuals.
            (4) At the ICMP's founding, the Department of State 
        facilitated obtaining a headquarters' agreement with Bosnia and 
        Herzegovina that provided ICMP with privileges and immunities 
        so that it could carry out its work, which was to secure the 
        cooperation of governments in locating and identifying missing 
        persons from the conflicts. In its headquarters' agreement, 
        ICMP is recognized as an organization equivalent to an inter-
        governmental organization.
            (5) ICMP's model requires governments to take 
        responsibility for clarifying the fate of missing persons via 
        governmental and rule of law mechanisms. In doing so, 
        governments build public trust in rule of law institutions, 
        seek to account for all regardless of their status or role in 
        conflicts, and fulfill their obligations to surviving families 
        of the missing.
            (6) ICMP works closely with associations of families of 
        missing persons, developing their capacity to take an active 
        role in the missing persons' process, including holding 
        governments to account and encouraging cooperation across 
        ethnic or sectarian divisions.
            (7) ICMP's work in post-conflict societies supports efforts 
        to prevent future conflict and directly contributes to truth 
        and reconciliation. ICMP also provides evidence including 
        testimony in courts prosecuting war crimes.
            (8) ICMP also assists countries facing large scale loss of 
        life following natural or manmade disasters. With the highest 
        throughput identification laboratory system in the world and 
        unparalleled experience in the management of mortal remains, 
        ICMP has become INTERPOL's primary partner in Disaster Victim 
        Identification (DVI).
            (9) ICMP's operational success has exceeded all 
        expectations and its law-based approach that includes the 
        judiciary and affiliated domestic legal services has been 
        extended to Colombia and Iraq. ICMP has also provided technical 
        assistance to Chile and South Africa on conflict and human 
        rights' cases and the United States, Thailand, and the 
        Philippines following natural disasters, such as Hurricane 
        Katrina.
            (10) In the intervening years there has also been increased 
        demand for ICMP's work to address other cases of missing 
        persons, including persons missing from trafficking, drug 
        related violence and to other missing persons' scenarios.
            (11) Currently ICMP, through an agreement facilitated by 
        the Department of State in 1997, has such a status in Bosnia 
        and Herzegovina, thus, for example, allowing it to maintain and 
        protect a database that contains 150,000 genetic profiles. In 
        two years' time, ICMP will experience a situation of 
        diminishing resources on its assistance in the Balkans, which 
        could have continued political consequences on its work if it 
        maintains its headquarters and capacities in that region. 
        However, moving ICMP's headquarters and technical capacities 
        from Bosnia and Herzegovina would have immediate consequences 
        on ICMP's ability to maintain some of its current core 
        technical activities.
            (12) ICMP is not incorporated under the domestic law of any 
        country, and is by implication not a nongovernmental 
        organization. In order to carry out its work, ICMP has been 
        granted the status of a quasi-international organization with 
        international legal capacities in Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, 
        and Serbia. However, that status is not universally recognized, 
        which has led to an unclear legal situation outside these 
        countries.
            (13) Certain immunities are required for operations 
        considering that ICMP operates on sovereign territory in crime 
        scenes (such as mass graves) and holds considerable quantities 
        of confidential genetic information relating to victims of 
        human rights' abuses and their surviving relatives.
            (14) A series of meetings convened by the ICMP during 2002 
        and 2004, with government representatives from the United 
        States, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, 
        reviewed the ICMP's work and its need for a permanent and 
        internationally recognized legal status. The representatives 
        produced a draft framework agreement, which remains unratified, 
        but the government representatives did agree to expand ICMP's 
        work, thus allowing it to work globally in assisting 
        governments, and the representatives also stipulated that ICMP 
        should extend its activities to include assistance to 
        governments in locating persons missing from natural disasters, 
        as well as from wars and violations of human rights.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the United States should continue to support the work 
        of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) to--
                    (A) clarify the fate of persons missing as a result 
                of conflict and natural and man-made disasters; and
                    (B) collect and maintain sensitive genetic 
                information for victim identification;
            (2) the United States should continue to support the 
        expansion of the ICMP's mandate to include assistance to 
        governments in locating all persons missing for involuntary 
        reasons;
            (3) the President should enunciate a clear policy of 
        assisting the ICMP in establishing a permanent and 
        internationally recognized legal status to carry out its 
        mandate globally; and
            (4) the Secretary of State shall make every effort to 
        advance this proposal at the United Nations.

SEC. 4. REPORT.

    Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to Congress a report on the 
activities carried out in accordance with section 3.
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