During the Dutch PEN-MP presidency (2023, 2024 & 2025) three international working groups have been set up. The objectives of PEN-MP are based on the European Council conclusions set in 2021 (Slovenian EU Presidency).
The following projects will be worked on over the next three years. During the annual PEN-MP Core group meeting (2023) the present member countries of the board were assigned a task in one of the three working groups. Other countries are now invited to participate.
Guide of good practice
Driver: Spain, Co-driver: Sweden
Support: Poland, Czech Republic
During the Spanish EU Presidency 2023, a seminar was organized by the Centro Nacional de Desaparecidos in Madrid. The seminar focused on sharing good practices in the field of missing person investigations. Sharing good practices and incorporating them into a European guide is also a task from the EU council conclusions 2019. Following this seminar, the working group was established and is currently writing a draft guideline in which the basic principles of locating missing persons are incorporated.
Forensic Identification UHR’s
Driver: The Netherlands, Presidency 2024-2025
In collaboration with the working group PEN-MP participants: Germany, Sweden, Belgium
In collaboration with Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Department of Forensic Research & Biomedical Technology
During the PEN-MP congress in Almere, December 2023, the Forensic Police Services / Missing Persons units of the North Sea countries discussed the subject of a better cooperation in the exchange of DNA- profiles of unidentified human remains. The result is the establishment of the North Sea Working Group to liaise mainly at an operational and practical investigation level in cross-border cases.
The need to start a European project to clarify the methods, means and work processes used by each European and / or Schengen-affiliated country in the exchange of DNA-profiles of unidentified human remains became clear. This practical insight is necessary for the ability to link missing persons cases in one country to unidentified human remains in another country.
It also became clear that understanding methods that could predict where missing persons for example wash ashore is a must. This should include making already existing methods, means and techniques applicable and accessible to (forensic) operational police practice. For this reason, we have started a collaboration with the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Department of Forensic Research & Biomedical Technology for this specific project.
European Internet Platform for Missing Persons
Driver: France
Support: Spain, Slovenia, Hungary
For the missing persons investigation every piece of information can be crucial, reports and testimonials from the general public can play a key role. At a time when social networks and digital technology are becoming increasingly widespread, enabling information to be disseminated on a massive scale, law enforcement authorities need to be able to rely on these mechanisms.
For this purpose, the Council of the European Union’s invited the PEN-MP to further discuss and elaborate the possibility of the creation of a European internet platform dedicated to the dissemination of missing persons reports fed by the police services.
As part of this task and under the leadership of France, the PEN-MP working group is currently conducting an exploratory study of the possibilities. In doing so, the working group is using the results of the survey conducted among PEN-MP members on this topic during the PEN-MP Slovenian Presidency 2022.