Target: Pierre Krähenbühl, Director-General of International Committee of the Red Cross
Goal: Help grieving families impacted by war, conflict, and terror identify lost loved ones.
An advanced forensic technique – known as forensic investigative genetic genealogy – helped identify a victim of the September 11 World Trade Center attacks nearly 25 years to the day of the tragedy. Close to half of Americans lost on that day are still listed as missing because their remains have not yet been identified. Breakthrough technologies like the one mentioned above offer new hope for closure and for still-grieving families.
Recent conflicts across the world have brought the same agonizing pain for families desperately awaiting answers on their loved ones. In one such example, dozens of boxes containing the remains of deceased people were delivered from a conflict zone. But because of sorely lacking DNA technologies – including the absence of internet access – in these war-torn regions, families could only look through images of mangled corpses in makeshift gathering areas. Even if identifications were scarcely possible, families were forced to endure grueling sights that will likely haunt them for lifetimes.
Sign the petition below to urge global humanitarian organizations to do everything in their power to secure technologies that could bring a measure of peace to families across the world who have endured literal hell on earth.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Director-General Krähenbühl,
Nearly 1,100 souls lost in the September 11 terrorist attacks remain unidentified. Their families have been confronted with decades of uncertainty, a lack of closure, and an inability to truly lay their lost loved ones to rest. As this organization knows better than most, this same horrific limbo has gripped families worldwide as conflicts rise and humane principles continue on a precipitous slide.
You help provide immediate ground-level support for communities during the worst times of their lives, and for that you should be commended. But as you likewise know, healing can take a lifetime. Help families still surrounded and trapped by war find a level of peace. Partner with researchers and scientists who have developed revolutionary identification technologies like forensic investigative genetic genealogy – or even basic DNA testing – and ensure devastated communities have access to the answers they need.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Nightscream
