II. Recommendations ¹

To political, religious, and other community leaders in Iraq

• Urge U.S. and coalition forces, the U.S. Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA), the ICRC, and other relevant parties to immediately establish an efficient, expeditious and sensitive process to collect and maintain information on the “disappeared” as a first step toward recovery of their remains and an official recognition of their death. Such a process must address the families’ need to identify and rebury their dead as well as the need to preserve evidence for future accountability mechanisms and should be consistent with the recommendations adopted by consensus by governments, NGOs, family groups, and experts at the International Conference of the Missing held in February, 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland²;
• Conduct public education and outreach on the value and limitations of scientific exhumation in providing reliable identification of the dead and the circumstances of death;
• Help to identify key grave sites where evidence would be particularly vital to eventual criminal proceedings. In the absence of a clear accountability process and until such time as this is established, this should involve consultations with both Iraqi and international human rights organizations and others who have documented genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, or other serious violations of international humanitarian law during the past two decades;
• Urge Iraqis to refrain from conducting or encouraging exhumations until processes are in place to ensure that all victims’ remains are treated with dignity and a maximum number of victims can be identified and reburied. This may mean delaying exhumations until a process is in place to collect pre-death data about the missing and “disappeared,” locate sites for immediate exhumation and reburial, and recruit and position trained forensic pathologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and other technicians to lead or advise exhumations as well as to train local persons in the necessary skills;
• When exhumations are conducted of graves that are the likely result of serious crimes, insist that expert assistance is on hand to ensure that the grave site and its contents can be used as valid evidence in trials, truth commissions, reparations processes, historical accounts, and other mechanisms the Iraqi people may wish at some point to employ.

To the U.S. Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance

• In consultation with the ICRC, convene relevant community leaders, victims and relatives’ associations, and others to organize a process to address the needs of relatives to resolve the fate of missing persons, including the organized exhumation of remains consistent with the recommendations adopted by consensus by governments, NGOs, family groups, and experts at the International Conference of the Missing held in February, 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland. The emotional and spiritual needs of relatives of the missing to restore dignity to the dead, register the circumstances of their disappearance, and gain official recognition of deaths and if possible the circumstances of death should be addressed. Such efforts should include a realistic description of the timeframe of various exhumation options and the constraints of what exhumation and identification processes can achieve so as not to raise unrealistic expectations;
• Take immediate steps to bring together Iraqi community leaders, family associations, and scientists, along with relevant international organizations and others, to develop a process to preserve and protect key mass graves;
• Communicate to relatives of victims, as an urgent matter, to assure them that U.S. and U.K. coalition forces will address to the extent possible their need to identify and recover the dead, and that processes for registering disappearances are being established and should be used rather than ad hoc exhumations. If mass media is not functional, use other informal communication mechanisms;
• Recruit and position trained forensic pathologists, anthropologists, archaeologists and other technicians so they are available to both lead or advise exhumations as well as to train local persons in the necessary skills. International participation in this process and involvement of experienced NGOs would heighten the credibility of this effort;
• Ensure that psychosocial and spiritual assistance is available to relatives who are confronted with the truth about the crimes their loved ones suffered.

To U.S. and coalition forces

• Immediately communicate with relatives and community leaders to assure them that their needs to rebury the dead will be met, but that this must be done in an orderly manner to ensure that as many remains as possible are identified and all are treated with dignity;
• Expand the designation of sites to receive twenty-four hour protection to include those containing victims of serious crimes other than war crimes and assign adequate troops to ensure that the sites are not disturbed.

To donors, nongovernmental and governmental agencies, and U.N. agencies

• Provide resources to facilitate identification of remains and preservation of evidence, including:
• deploying governmental and nongovernmental forensic experts, given the magnitude of the need. Ensure that such teams use uniform scientific protocols and coordinate methodologies for collecting evidence of crimes, identifying remains as well as for addressing the needs of families and communities;
• funding and training for data collection and preservation programs;
• training for Iraqi scientists in exhumation and identification so that such efforts are carried out in accordance with international standards;
• expanding Iraq’s forensic capabilities to ensure adequate facilities for body storage and properly equipped examination and identification facilities; and
• supporting families in locating and identifying remains in the context of an overall process for registering and resolving the cases of the “disappeared.”

To the U.N. Security Council

• As an initial step, establish an international commission of experts to make recommendations to the Council regarding the forms of justice mechanism best suited to the current situation;
• Create an international criminal tribunal to prosecute those most responsible for exceptionally grave international crimes including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law.

To the special representative of the U.N. secretary-general

• Impress upon the occupying power and transitional authorities the urgent need for protection and preservation of mass grave sites;
• Assist the occupying power and transitional authorities with public education efforts to discourage the disorderly exhumation of graves and recovery of bodies;
• Mobilize international assistance and resources to facilitate exhumations, identification of remains and preservation of evidence;
• Assist in identifying trained forensic pathologists, anthropologists, archaeologists and other technicians from both governmental and nongovernmental agencies to bolster confidence in any process for recovery and identification of remains. These professionals should lead and advise on exhumations as well as train local persons in the necessary skills;
• Assist in identifying trained forensic pathologists, anthropologists, archaeologists and other technicians both to lead or advise exhumations as well as to and train local persons in the necessary skills;
• Facilitate training programs for Iraqi scientists in international standards of exhumation and identification;
• Facilitate and support the efforts of international and local NGOs in the collection and preservation of evidence.
• Co-ordinate the efforts of the U.N. agencies, donors, and nongovernmental and governmental agencies with the occupying power to implement these recommendations.