Accounting for the Missing in Armed Conflict

States parties to an international armed conflict have an unconditional obligation to account for enemy soldiers and civilians in their hands, whether alive, wounded or dead. They must in particular set up National Information Bureaus (NIBs) to collect information about them and share it with the ICRC. ICRC Karen Loehner and Benjamin Charlier accompanied the setting up of the Ukrainian and Russian NIBs. They underline the importance of peacetime preparedness, and the role that third countries such as Switzerland can play.