Living up to obligations through the International Red Cross? A critique of states’ attempts to shift obligations when addressing missing persons

Abstract The article identifies and explains a phenomenon whereby states attempt to shift their responsibility in relation to missing persons and their families to the International Red Cross. This has dual effect: firstly, it leads to rightlessness of the missing and their families, and secondly, it diminishes the obligations of the states, which are the duty bearers. The attempted shift does not, however, lead to the International Red Cross becoming a duty bearer, despite undertaking crucial actions in the analyzed area. Two case studies, relating to two distinct types of missing persons, are used to illustrate the phenomenon: persons who disappeared during the conflict in Cyprus between 1963 and 1974, and migrants going missing in the Mediterranean.