The search for missing persons in the Eastern European Countries: a legal procedure and organizational framework
The search for missing persons in the Eastern European Countries: a legal procedure and organizational framework

Summary/Abstract: The article addresses the issue of human disappearances in four Eastern European countries – Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Lithuania. Although thereare significant discrepancies between the four concerning economic welfare andindividuals’ mobility, their search procedures are quite similar. Besides, domesticpolice forces are dealing with similar external challenges, including increased crossborder migration and human trafficking. There have been several studies regardinghuman disappearances and police search investigations in those countries. However,there have been no comparative reviews of this kind so far. The authors analyzednoteworthy similarities differences between the four countries regarding an existinglegal framework and the ways the search for the missing people are being organizedin each country. The authors also highlighted the areas that require improvement,pointing to some common deficiencies such as a selective approach to humandisappearances, the lack of specialized search units within the national police forces,and the somewhat limited use of the modern internet-based media. The issuesrelating to the identification of unknown human, which is a crucial part of the policesearch investigations, were addressed as well.

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