Participation in the seminar

3.8.2020

The head of the Student Social Service Sector of LTSNU took part in a seminar on the topic “From the Concept of Undetermined Loss in Work with Families of Missing Persons.”

Since the beginning of the crisis in the spring of 2014, the International Committee of the Red Cross has a permanent presence in Ukraine and registers cases of disappearances on both sides of the contact line. It is difficult to determine the exact number of missing persons, since the conflict continues, many bodies of the dead people remain unidentified, and various registers have not been consolidated. Despite this, it is positive that from the outset of the crisis, measures have been taken to address the issue of conflict-related missing persons. In particular, such an event is a seminar held on July 31, 2020 at the Starobilsk District State Administration on the topic “From the Concept of Undetermined Loss in Work with Families of Missing Persons” in which Olena Dukhova, head of the Student Social Service Sector, took part.

During the event, both theoretical and practical parts were held, the last of which included tasks where those present had the opportunity to demonstrate their psychological stability when communicating with an imaginary person suffering from a missing family member and provide him (or her) with psychosocial support.

According to ICRC estimates, since 2014, about 700 people are still considered missing, of which, unfortunately, only 10% were found. Therefore, efforts aimed at tracing such persons and supporting their families in Ukraine should be integrated, coordinated and planned taking into account the different needs of families.

Iryna Bakhmet,
Press Center of LTSNU