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- Convenors:
-
Eilidh Ferguson
(University of Glasgow)
Rose Drew (University of Winchester)
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- Stream:
- Movement
- Sessions:
- Monday 14 September, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Achieving a positive identification in cases where there is no presumed identity of the deceased is a persistent and global problem. This panel will explore the role of the forensic anthropologist in human identification through a number of different themes across the borders of geography and time.
Long Abstract:
Achieving a positive identification in cases where there is no presumed identity of the deceased is a persistent and global problem for forensic anthropologists. Identification becomes significantly more difficult when dealing with large numbers of individuals such as migrants, forcibly displaced persons and casualties of war, particularly if they are biologically similar in terms of age, sex and population. Challenges arise surrounding the collection and matching of ante-mortem and post-mortem data, and political, cultural, legal and geographic sensitivities often exacerbate situations in transnational contexts. Moreover, the lack of genetic, anthropological and biocultural population data from affected global communities may further complicate forensic identification efforts. Such issues are not limited to modern populations and the identification of historic migrant communities, for example, can also often be problematic particularly in the less privileged sectors of society where little biographical material exists. This panel aims to explore the challenges associated with human identification across the borders of geography and time. This panel is open to Human Rights Lawyers involved in field of human identification and senior police officers experienced in managing large scale identifications of people from migrant communities, as well as forensic anthropologists.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Monday 14 September, 2020, -Paper short abstract:
The presentation aims to provide the participants an understanding of the challenges faced in the collection of ante-mortem and post-mortem of migrants in the identification process of irregular migrants
Paper long abstract:
At least 19000 irregular migrants are reported to have died or gone missing on the Mediterranean Sea routes and in mainland Europe since 2014. Depending on the migratory route, an estimated 25-80% of those reported to have died are never recovered. It is believed that more than half of the deceased migrants found remain unidentified. Clear figures are unavailable due to the absence of national and European-wide centralised reporting systems on migrant deaths. Thousands of families are still looking for their missing relatives globally and remain in a state of ambiguous loss and struggling to cope in the absence of any information or closure. The transnational and complex nature of irregular migration as well as the continued diversification of migratory routes creates significant challenges not only for the families of the missing who are seeking information but also authorities and organisations tasked with the investigative process. Families face numerous challenges and legal obstacles in their attempt to find their missing relatives. Not only because of state policies and differing national legal frameworks, but also due to limitations in the collection of appropriate ante-mortem information for forensic identification purposes, including DNA. Post-mortem procedures still vary significantly across Europe. The effort to identify the deceased may further be hampered due to gaps in forensic knowledge in cultural, dental, genetic and anthropological data and indicators relevant to specific migrant populations limiting the ability to accurately identify the deceased and deduct clues as to the geographical origin of the individual. The presentation aims to provide the participants an understanding of the challenges faced in the collection of ante-mortem and post-mortem of migrants in the identification process of irregular migrants. This will be illustrated through examples of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean region and Mainland Europe. It is hoped that the presentation will not only provide the participants with a better understanding of the forensic challenges in the identification process, but may also provide food-for-thought for a re-think of the forensic approach for the identification of deceased irregular migrants.
Paper short abstract:
Craniofacial analysis is a useful tool for aiding identification in forensic scenarios. This paper considers how craniofacial analysis can be utilised in migrant DVI, especially where identification is difficult through DNA or dental comparison, or where the country of origin is poor and war-torn.
Paper long abstract:
Craniofacial analysis is a useful tool for aiding identification in forensic scenarios. This paper considers how craniofacial analysis can be utilised in migrant DVI, especially where identification is difficult through DNA or dental comparison, or where the country of origin is poor and war-torn. This paper presents research relating to the evaluation of facial depiction from skeletal remains, postmortem depiction and facial recognition in DVI, and describes recent research in the Canary Islands to identify burials of migrants who died crossing by sea from West Africa. This paper discusses the problems and limitations of migrant DVI, whilst appreciating the challenges and opportunities.
Paper short abstract:
This paper will consider the many challenges faced by Forensic Anthropologists in the identification of war casualties, focusing on the Korean War. Scientific techniques past, present, and future will be discussed along with the importance of a collaborative approach to recovery and identification.
Paper long abstract:
Identifying casualties of war poses many challenges, more so when the identifications take place many years after the conflict in question, such as the Korean War (1950-1953). There are currently over 7,600 US military personnel unaccounted for following the Korean War and it is believed around 5,300 individuals were lost in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Strained relations between the DPRK and the US, whose troops formed a large portion of the opposing United Nation forces, has restricted recovery operations.
Recovered remains come from several sources, each with their own set of identification challenges; from staged burial sites in the DPRK, to 208 boxes of remains repatriated in the 1990s containing an estimated 600 commingled individuals. The most recent repatriation of 55 boxes of remains in July 2018 are currently reported to contain 250 independent DNA profiles, of which a large number are of Asian origin and may require further analysis to determine if they belong to South Korean forces or any of the approximately 100 missing Asian American servicemembers.
This paper will consider the many issues faced by Forensic Anthropologists in the identification of US servicemembers unaccounted for following the Korean War. Past, present, and future methods of recovery and identification will be discussed, both in terms of advances in scientific knowledge, multi-agency collaboration, and the significance of transnational relations in casualty recovery. Many of the insights gained are transferrable across identification efforts, particularly when faced with large-scale commingled remains.
Paper short abstract:
A workhouse cemetery, cleared by roadworkers to build a police station, contained 309 individuals who died as inmates. Isotopic studies will test immigrant status. An Oslo genealogist has traced 19th c family from the mountains, to a trial for stealing grain, to their names in the burial list.
Paper long abstract:
Norway had four large regional workhouses in the 18th and 19th centuries. Oslo’s Tukthuset (workhouse) held those sentenced by police for up to six months, no trial necessary; those sentenced for crimes ranging from “sexual deviancy” to misdemeanor theft; those out of work with nowhere to go, for whom thin porridge and a roof were better than the street. Archival documents record many Tukthuset inmates were emigrants to Oslo from other regions in Norway, or from other countries; local genealogist Jorunn Torstad has traced 19th century family members from their mountain village, to a magistrate trial for stealing a bag of grain in Oslo, to their names in the workhouse burial list. In 1989, the cemetery, containing only inmates who died and were unclaimed, was shifted with limited archaeological input to make room for a new police station; oral histories and reports from archaeologists with access to the site state the local indigent community witnessed the removal of the unmarked graves, declaring the removed dead were “people like us”. Many graves were cleared by road-workers, bones swept into bin bags. Pending stable isotope studies on bone and teeth from eight discrete individuals will compare their signatures with Oslo region faunal remains to test immigrant status. This assemblage, interred between 1760-1820, is unique: Norway does not safeguard disturbed cemetery remains that are post-1534. Approximately 309 individuals from this workhouse, from commingled remains to c. 100 fairly complete skeletons, are stored in Oslo’s Schreiner Collection.