Tracing Restoring Family Links
Henry Dunant (1828-1910)
•© ICRC / hist-00022
• Photothèque CICR (DR)/
Story of Claudius Mazuet
International Committee of the Red Cross
Geneva Conventions
• Provide minimum standards of
humanity during times of armed
conflict
• Recognise the right of people to
know the fate of loved ones
(eg GC4/25 and AP1/32)
ww1
Australian
Red Cross & World War 1
• 1914 - Australian soldiers
traced by small office in
Cairo
• 1915 – Gallipoli and Western
Front campaigns caused huge
numbers of wounded,
missing and POWs.
• 1915 – Establishment of
Australian Wounded and
Missing Enquiry Bureau
• 1916 –Bureau moved to
London
1st Battalion troops waiting for relief near Jacob's trench, Lone Pine, Gallipoli, 8
August 1915. Image from www.awm.gov.au (Public domain)
Red Cross Heroic Women
•Vera
Deakin
Elizabeth
Chomley
• Secretary of ARC Wounded and
Missing Enquiry Bureau
• Personally wrote 400,000 letters to
families at home.
• Established POW Department of
Bureau
• Organised 395,000 parcels for
Australian POWs.
ww1 War 1 tracing systems
World
London, England. Women at
work in the Index Card
Department at the Prisoners of
War Information Bureau.
(Donor British Official
Photograph BB6)
Images from www.awm.gov.au
(Public Domain)
ww1 War 1 relief packages
World
Red Cross Unit in NSW collecting funds in
WW1. RC Archival image AX10 1264
Goods made by the Northcote Red Cross branch
for sick & wounded Australian soldiers. (Source:
AWM, Public domain)
A vital service
• 40 million people
• Fédération/MAYER, Till
displaced by armed
conflict, persecution
• Thousands more by
natural disasters and
forced migration.
• Separation can lead to
serious physical,
psychological,
financial
repercussions.
100 years of service
Over 100 years Australian Red
Cross has responded:
•
•
•
•
• Australian Red Cross
World War 2
Balkans conflict
2004 tsunami
Missing migrants at
sea
Networks cross 189 countries
 ICRC/BARRY, Jessica
• ICRC/VII/HAVIV, Ron
What the service does
1. Clarifies the fate of the
Missing
• Marko KOKIC/ICRC
2.Helps families re-establish
contact
• Kate HOLT/ICRC
3. Facilitates the exchange of
family news
• Marko KOKIC/ICRC
Success! Joy!
•After 19 years of
separation, and with
the assistance of the
Australian Red Cross
International Tracing
Service, Isha Munya is
reunited with her
daughter, Faduma.
•On the reunion day
Isha exclaimed: “It
was so emotional, you
could feel it in the air. I
saw Faduma come off
the plane. I couldn't
hold my tears back.”
 Australia Red Cross / Mourne de Klerk
Visits around Australia
Nauru
•This image has been amended from DIBP website
http://www.immi.gov.au/About/Pages/detention/immigration-detention-facilities.aspx
Case Study
•Samuel, a nurse, was separated
from his two young children by
violence in war-torn Sierra Leone
in 1999.
•For years, Samuel desperately
tried to locate and contact his
children with no success. Samuel
contacted Australian Red Cross to
see whether they could help find
his children.
•Two months later, Red Cross
called Samuel with the good news.
His children had been found safe,
well and happy. Samuel is now in
regular contact with his children.
• Australian Red Cross/DEKKER, Rodney
Questions
•Entre Ríos, Guatemala. Pedro Coc hugging his grandmother. © CICR / C. Amezquita
For further information please contact your local Red Cross
office Tracing team or tracing@redcross.org.au.