The politics of forced disappearance in armed conflicts and irregular migration

In a new research article, Ninna Nyberg Sørensen, DIIS, and Professor Laura Huttunen, Tampere University, discuss forced disappearance and the role of biometric technologies in reconnecting bodies and ID-entities in two seemingly different contexts: first, among persons, often nationals, who go missing during armed conflicts, whether or not under totalitarian governments; and second, among migrants and refugees, often non-nationals – who go missing as a direct consequence of increasingly strict border management and precarious travel conditions along illegalized routes. The analysis uses historical data from the armed conflict in Guatemala 1960-96 and the Bosnian war 1992-95, both of which led to massive population displacements, genocide and forced disappearance. This data is then juxtaposed to contemporary incidents of disappearance of migrants and refugees in the Americas as well as in the Mediterranean.

The article shows that DNA-based technologies is a useful prism through which the interests in disappearing both citizens and migrants can be read. Contrary to the often-voiced criticism of biometric technologies developed to controlling migration, such technologies are widely embraced by individuals searching for relatives who have cone missing in both conflict and migration situations. However, not all victim organisations founded in the aftermath of armed conflict see migrant disappearances in the same light.

The article “Missing migrants and the politics of disappearance in armed conflicts and migratory contexts” is published in a special issue of Ethnos focusing on Biometric Technologies, Borders and Migration. All articles in the special issue can be downloaded here.