Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah (C, Front), Kuwait's minister of foreign affairs, chairs a UN Security Council meeting on the protection of civilians and missing persons in armed conflict at the UN headquarters in New York, on June 11, 2019. The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday passed its first-ever resolution on missing persons in conflict, Resolution 2474, unanimously by the 15-member Council. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)
UNITED NATIONS, June 11 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Security Council on Tuesday called upon parties to armed conflict to "pay the utmost attention" to cases of children reported missing as a result of armed conflict.
Resolution 2474, adopted unanimously on Tuesday by the 15-member Council, called upon parties to armed conflict to take appropriate measures to search for and identify those children.
The measures contained in the resolution would compel all 193 members of the UN to cooperate and follow legally binding procedures to find those missing in war, possibly in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
According to the resolution, the Council called upon parties to armed conflict to take appropriate measures to prevent persons from going missing as a result of armed conflict, through the facilitation of the reunion of families dispersed as a result of armed conflict, and to allow for the exchange of family news, consistent with their international obligations.
The Council also called upon states, in cases of missing persons as a result of armed conflict, to take measures, as appropriate, in order to ensure "thorough, prompt, impartial and effective" investigations and the prosecution of offences linked to missing persons as a result of armed conflict, in accordance with national and international law, with a view to full accountability.
Kuwait has long championed the issue and in February asked the Council to do more to find 369 citizens and third-country nationals whose remains have never been found after their abduction or torture by Saddam Hussein's forces in the 1990-91 Gulf War.
"Missing persons are usually dealt with at the end of a conflict, not during a conflict," said Mansour Al-Otaibi, Kuwait's permanent representative to the UN.
Kuwait on June 3 began its presidency of the Security Council for the month of June and said it aimed to pass a UN resolution to find missing people and protect civilians in armed conflict.
The resolution was adopted at a Security Council meeting on the protection of civilians and missing persons in armed conflict, whic
h was presided over by the minister of foreign affairs of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. The briefers included ICRC President Peter Maurer via video link.
