The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is revisiting every family that has reported a disappearance since the organisation started working in Nepal in 1998 to confirm a list of names it intends to publish later this year. "At the end of a conflict no one wants to speak about what happened so there's always a risk that the disappeared will be forgotten," ICRC Protection Coordinator Thierry Schreyer told us.

The agency has 15 teams in the field gathering information about the disappeared, most of them reported from 2002 to 2005. Schreyer said that the Nepal Red Cross also collects information, and suggested that "it's also the right time for the CPN-M and the authorities to address the issue."

"There's a need for a structure at the state level that is powerful enough to get the information, centralise it, and support the families of the disappeared," said Schreyer. At a 2003 international conference, the ICRC broached the idea of states providing a Declaration of Absence so that families who lose a member, often the breadwinner, would be eligible for assistance. "If you're missing, you're not dead, and you're not there to support your family," Schreyer added.

The ICRC in Nepal maintains a continuous dialogue with the state and CPN-M over the fate of the disappeared. "We investigate, provide them with that information, and expect that they will investigate the case and try to find out what happened," said Schreyer. "We will continue asking about these people till we find out what happened to them." (Marty Logan)