A missing person must be registered by a close relative, specifically (a) a first-degree relative (parent, child, sibling, spouse), or (b) a second-degree relative (grandparent, grandchild, uncle/aunt, first-degree cousin) if appointed by a first-degree relative or if there are no surviving first-degree relatives.

Yes, if they fulfil the criteria indicated in question 1 above. There is no discrimination regarding the circumstances a person went missing, or the status of the person (i.e., civilian or combatant). The OMPB respects every family’s Right to Know the fate and whereabouts of their missing loved ones.

The mandate of the OMPB strictly covers cases from the beginning of the Conflict (01.10.1988) until the implementation of the ceasefire agreement (30.04.1998).  For cases of missing persons falling outside this timeframe, you may enquire with DBIMI for further guidance.

Families are at the heart of this issue, and they will be engaged throughout the process.  The OMPB Family Liaison Coordinator’s primary role is to support families and individually update them on the progress of the search activities.  In addition, the families are represented in the Bougainville Committee of Missing Persons.

The Family Liaison Coordinator will be providing individualised updates to each family on the progress of the search and the efforts undertaken to identify missing persons depending on the specificities of each case. This information will NOT be shared publicly or on any social media. The OMPB will communicate information directly with those families affected.

No, the OMPB is not mandated to deal with issues related to compensation.  This Office has a humanitarian objective to address the following needs of the families, in the sense that it addresses the:

• Need and Right to Know the fate and whereabouts of missing relatives: Families of the missing need to know what happened to their loved ones. If dead, families should be able to locate and return their remains for burial in their ancestral lands. The OMPB will conduct searches aiming to clarify without discrimination the fate and whereabouts of missing persons in relation to the Bougainville Conflict.
• Emotional needs: Many families need support to cope with the loss of their relative(s). The OMPB will support families during the process through mental health and psychosocial support, in partnership with the Nazareth Center for Rehabilitation (NCfR). Families can choose to participate in this programme voluntarily.
• Administrative and legal needs: The OMPB, in collaboration with other governmental bodies, will support the families of the missing in addressing legal and administrative challenges that are related to the fact that they have a missing relative (e.g., issue of death certificate).

Need for acknowledgment: The OMPB will ensure that the missing and the plight of the families are officially acknowledged.

No, the OMPB is mandated to take on a purely humanitarian approach, solely to support families in clarifying the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones.  All information, observations, and statements provided to the OMPB will be safeguarded and will not be used for any other purposes or shared with any other unauthorized institutions or external persons.

No, it will be up to the families and communities to proceed with any reconciliations.

The OMPB is an autonomous and independent office, free of any political agenda, monitored by the Bougainville Committee on the Missing, comprised of all concerned participants (families of the missing, government bodies, religious and civil society actors). It will monitor the OMPB’s progress and facilitate its work to ensure coordination and a multi-disciplinary response is in place. The Committee will not, however, have access to the individual cases of missing persons or any confidential data held by the OMPB.

No, the Committee Members represent their organisations on a voluntary basis.

It is difficult to trace, or if dead, to locate, identify and recover every missing person’s remains. The circumstance surrounding the death of each missing person is different and so are the difficulties in finding them. Nonetheless, extensive efforts will be conducted to search for every missing person in a non-discriminatory manner.

The information collected in the past was collected under a different process with a different purpose. This information collected now includes additional (different) information that can assist the OMPB in conducting the search and identification of missing persons. However, information that was collected that is relevant, may still be included if possible.