International Day of the Missing

August 30 is International Day of the Missing.

With Belgian Red Cross-Flanders , we receive hundreds of files every year from people here in Flanders who have lost their families due to war, violence or migration. One of our core tasks is Restoring Family Links: reconnecting people with their families.

In Flanders we currently have 671 files open for persons in more than 20 countries, worldwide we are talking about more than 200,000 persons. To make that concrete:

• In the first half of 2025, we opened 156 new files, accounting for a search of 337 individuals;
• During the same period, we were able to close 15 cases positively and find 30 people through our network.

However, the actual numbers are much higher; only a fraction of those affected know the way to us or report a case.                                                                                                                          

The searches run along several tracks: the Red Cross has a broad international network with 12,000,000 volunteers worldwide and national associations in just about every country. And these Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, through volunteers and professionals, will literally search villages, camps or hospitals, consult international databases and refugee registers, and deploy public initiatives such as the Trace the Face platform in search of the missing.

Also in Flanders, we have a team of volunteers and permanent staff who do intake interviews and follow up cases, in close cooperation with colleagues worldwide.