Particle.news
Download on the App Store
4 ARTICLES
·
last mo.

DRK Search Service Logs Nearly 2,400 New Cases in 2024 as WWII Inquiries Remain High

Cross-border data sharing within the Red Cross network underpins the service's results.

Vertreter des Roten Kreuzes auf dem zerstörten internationalen Flughafen von Donezk, Ukraine.
Image
Die Zahl der weltweit vermissten Menschen ist nach Angaben des Roten Kreuzes innerhalb der vergangen fünf Jahren um fast 70 Prozent gestiegen. Etwa 284.400 Menschen weltweit waren Ende 2024 vermisst gemeldet.

Overview

  • The DRK registered 2,391 new international missing-person inquiries tied to current crises in 2024 and 997 more in the first half of 2025.
  • Most new requests came from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and Somalia, reflecting ongoing conflict and displacement.
  • The service resolved about 24% of contemporary-crisis cases last year, while it provided clarifying information in roughly 43% of World War II searches.
  • Interest in wartime tracing remains substantial, with about 7,100 WWII-related searches in 2024 and nearly 4,200 in the first six months of 2025.
  • The DRK cites data exchange across 191 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies and the ICRC’s central tracing service as key enablers, noting the network can clarify a missing person’s fate roughly every 30 minutes.