The Search for missing persons in the Eastern European countries: a legal procedure and organizational framework

ENThe article addresses the issue of human disappearances in four Eastern European countries – Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Lithuania. Although there are significant discrepancies between the four concerning economic welfare and individuals’ mobility, their search procedures are quite similar. Besides, domestic police forces are dealing with similar external challenges, including increased crossborder migration and human trafficking. There have been several studies regarding human disappearances and police search investigations in those countries. However, there have been no comparative reviews of this kind so far. The authors analyzed noteworthy similarities differences between the four countries regarding an existing legal framework and the ways the search for the missing people are being organized in each country. The authors also highlighted the areas that require improvement, pointing to some common deficiencies such as a selective approach to human disappearances, the lack of specialized search units within the national police forces, and the somewhat limited use of the modern internet-based media. The issues relating to the identification of unknown human, which is a crucial part of the police search investigations, were addressed as well.