Exhumation Committee

A multidisciplinary independent Exhumation Committee is established every time that the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared seizes a burial site. The mandate of the Committee is to excavate the burial site, exhume its content and identify remains buried therein. It establishes scientific procedures to conduct forensic analyses to identify human remains and, at the end of investigations, submits to the National Commission a comprehensive report, including video evidence and medical reports corroborating the identities of human remains. The Committee is composed of: one representative of families of forcibly disappeared persons; one expert specialising in identifying human remains; one legal expert working within the governorate where the burial site is located; one member of the municipal council of the municipality where the burial site is located; one judge working within the governorate where the burial site is located. The Committee has the duty to ensure collection of information related to forcibly disappeared persons, and the right to access official documents that may facilitate its work. It may seek the support of the judicial police, the Internal Security Forces and specialised experts to carry out its work.