The Disaster Victims Identification (DVI) Conference for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region emphasized the need to find a mechanism for sustainable cooperation between Member States; to exchange expertise and skills, through joint training exercises in coordination with the International Police organization’s offices in the Member States. This would raise the level of readiness of the teams, and prepare them to meet any potential circumstances.
The conference urged all States to expand their citizens’ databases to include information that can be used to identify disaster victims, namely; fingerprints; teeth prints; and DNA. It also called for cooperation in the exchange of such data in the event of disasters, and to provide assistance to countries that lack the resources to establish such databases.
The conference, which was organized by the Ministry of Interior, in cooperation with the International Police (INTERPOL), issued on conclusion, a series of recommendations, chiefly, to implement a mechanism for regional coordination in areas prone to recurrent disasters, in order to facilitate victims’ identification in such potential incidents. Moreover, it stressed the need to qualify and equip INTERPOL offices to cope with this type of disasters, according to the occurrence probability, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It also called for increasing the number of trainers in victims’ identification; as well as establishing backup teams to deal with disasters and major accidents that cause large numbers of victims, through training programs to prepare fully qualified reserve teams to provide assistance in time of need.
The conference also recommended organizing conferences and workshops following major disasters, during which victim identification offices are established. This would shed light on the actions that have been taken, their subsequent consequences, and their pros and cons. It would also leverage the expertise of academics in the field of disaster victims’ identification, as well as accredited experts in the Disaster Victims’ Identification (DVI) offices.
In its second day, the Disaster Victims Identification (DVI) Conference for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region had held two work sessions. The first session was chaired by Lt. Colonel Dr. Saeed Matar Al Seraidi, Director of the Quality Management Department at the Ministry of Interior. During the session, three working papers were submitted for discussion. The first paper, “Identification of Illegal Immigrants, victims of sinking ships”, was presented by Anthony Castlani, Senior Officer at Disaster Victims Identification Center in Indonesia. The second paper, titled Criminal Anthropology and Disaster Victims Identification”, was submitted by Khadouma Al Nuaimi, Expert from the Criminal Evidence Department. Derek Forrest, Expert from the UK Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) Unit presented and discussed a third work paper titled “Coordination Approach on Disaster Victims Identification”.
The second work session was chaired by Major Dr. Nasser Mohammed al-Bakr, Director of Graduate Studies, and Member of the Organizing Scientific Committee at Abu Dhabi Police College. Three working papers were discussed in this session, namely; “The role of DNA in Major Disasters Victims Identification”, presented by First Lieutenant Suleiman Abu Hadid; the “Forensic Science in Disaster Victims Identification”, submitted by Peter Knudsen, Forensic Pathologist at the University of Southern Denmark. A third paper, titled “Australasian Disaster Victim Identification Committee”, was presented by Anthony Cerritelli, Chair of the Australasian Disaster Victim Identification Committee..