Victim family liaison
Definition
The structured process of maintaining communication between an investigation team and the relatives of victims or missing persons. Effective liaison involves both information-sharing and emotional support, and is increasingly recognised as a core component of a responsible forensic investigation.
Related terms
- Ante-mortem data (AMD)
- Information gathered from families and other sources about a missing person before their remains are identified: physical descriptions, medical and dental records,...
- Dignity of remains
- The ethical principle that human remains should be handled with care and respect regardless of the circumstances of death or the condition...
- ICRC
- The International Committee of the Red Cross, an independent humanitarian organisation that has developed widely referenced guidelines on the handling of the...
- Repatriation
- The return of human remains, or cultural objects associated with those remains, to the country, community, or family from which they originate....
- Secondary context
- A location where remains have been deposited after being moved from the primary deposition site. Non-disturbance of secondary contexts means not excavating...
Explained in
- Ethics and Human-Rights ObligationsThe structured process of maintaining communication between an investigation team and the relatives of victims or missing persons. Effective liaison involves b...