The rights of migrants to the identification of their dead: an attempt at an identification strategy from Italy.

Europe is turning a blind eye on a humanitarian disaster unfolding at its doorsteps, with thousands of migrants dying unidentified in Mediterranean waters. Since 2014, Italy has been struggling in an almost indifferent international scenario to identify its dead migrants. Despite the lack of sufficient resources, of the difficulties in collecting post mortem data from the disseminated bodies, and of the problems of contacting and collecting ante mortem information from relatives, it has been proven, with a series of pilot studies, that not only can these bodies be identified but that relatives are also looking for their loved ones and need death certificates. This article focuses on the administrative limbo and lack of regulations obliging single states to engage in appropriate procedures to maximise identification.

La gestión de las personas fallecidas a causa de la pandemia de COVID-19 y los retos organizativos desde la óptica de los servicios medicolegales / The management of the deceased from the COVID-19 pandemic and its organizational challenges from the medico-legal services perspective

La enfermedad por el nuevo coronavirus (COVID-19), surgida a fínales de 2019 en la ciudad china de Wuhan, fue declarada como pandemia por la Organización Mundial de la Salud el 11 de marzo de 2020. En los países y regiones más afectadas, paralelamente al elevado número de pacientes y a la saturación de los servicios de salud, la cantidad inhabitual de fallecidos supone un importante esfuerzo de gestión para las autoridades. El presente artículo tiene como objetivo identificar los retos particulares de una adecuada gestión y coordinación de las instituciones implicadas y proponer recomendaciones de actuación para el manejo correcto y digno de los fallecidos y la protección del derecho de sus familiares a un trato respetuoso, a conocer la suerte y el paradero de sus seres queridos y a honrarlos de acuerdo con sus creencias. Se destaca el importante papel que los servicios medicolegales deben jugar para ello. (AU)

The new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which emerged at the end of 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. In the most affected countries and regions, in parallel to the high number of patients and the consequent saturation of the health services, the unusually high number of deaths adds a very sensitive burden to authorities regarding the management of corpses. The purpose of this article is to identify the particular challenges of an appropriate management and coordination of the institutions involved and to propose recommendations for action for the proper and dignified management of the deceased and the protection of the rights of their families to a respectful treatment, to know the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones and to honor them according to their beliefs and customs. The important role that medical-legal services may play for this is highlighted. (AU)

Statement of the Independent Forensic Expert Group on Conversion Therapy.

Conversion therapy is a set of practices that aim to change or alter an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity. It is premised on a belief that an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity can be changed and that doing so is a desirable outcome for the individual, family, or community. Other terms used to describe this practice include sexual orientation change effort (SOCE), reparative therapy, reintegrative therapy, reorientation therapy, ex-gay therapy, and gay cure. Conversion therapy is practiced in every region of the world. We have identified sources confirming or indicating that conversion therapy is performed in over 60 countries. In those countries where it is performed, a wide and variable range of practices are believed to create change in an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity. Some examples of these include: talk therapy or psychotherapy (e.g., exploring life events to identify the cause); group therapy; medication (including anti-psychotics, anti- depressants, anti-anxiety, and psychoactive drugs, and hormone injections); Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (where an individual focuses on a traumatic memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation); electroshock or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) (where electrodes are attached to the head and electric current is passed between them to induce seizure); aversive treatments (including electric shock to the hands and/or genitals or nausea-inducing medication administered with presentation of homoerotic stimuli); exorcism or ritual cleansing (e.g., beating the individual with a broomstick while reading holy verses or burning the individual's head, back, and palms); force-feeding or food deprivation; forced nudity; behavioural conditioning (e.g., being forced to dress or walk in a particular way); isolation (sometimes for long periods of time, which may include solitary confinement or being kept from interacting with the outside world); verbal abuse; humiliation; hypnosis; hospital confinement; beatings; and "corrective" rape. Conversion therapy appears to be performed widely by health professionals, including medical doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, sexologists, and therapists. It is also conducted by spiritual leaders, religious practitioners, traditional healers, and community or family members. Conversion therapy is undertaken both in contexts under state control, e.g., hospitals, schools, and juvenile detention facilities, as well as in private settings like homes, religious institutions, or youth camps and retreats. In some countries, conversion therapy is imposed by the order or instructions of public officials, judges, or the police. The practice is undertaken with both adults and minors who may be lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, or gender diverse. Parents are also known to send their children back to their country of origin to receive it. The practice supports the belief that non-heterosexual orientations are deviations from the norm, reflecting a disease, disorder, or sin. The practitioner conveys the message that heterosexuality is the normal and healthy sexual orientation and gender identity. The purpose of this medico-legal statement is to provide legal experts, adjudicators, health care professionals, and policy makers, among others, with an understanding of: 1) the lack of medical and scientific validity of conversion therapy; 2) the likely physical and psychological consequences of undergoing conversion therapy; and 3) whether, based on these effects, conversion therapy constitutes cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or torture when individuals are subjected to it forcibly2 or without their consent. This medico-legal statement also addresses the responsibility of states in regulating this practice, the ethical implications of offering or performing it, and the role that health professionals and medical and mental health organisations should play with regards to this practice. Definitions of conversion therapy vary. Some include any attempt to change, suppress, or divert an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. This medico-legal statement only addresses those practices that practitioners believe can effect a genuine change in an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity. Acts of physical and psychological violence or discrimination that aim solely to inflict pain and suffering or punish individuals due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, are not addressed, but are wholly condemned. This medico-legal statement follows along the lines of our previous publications on Anal Examinations in Cases of Alleged Homosexuality1 and on Forced Virginity Testing.2 In those statements, we opposed attempts to minimise the severity of physical and psychological pain and suffering caused by these examinations by qualifying them as medical in nature. There is no medical justification for inflicting on individuals torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. In addition, these statements reaffirmed that health professionals should take no role in attempting to control sexuality and knowingly or unknowingly supporting state-sponsored policing and punishing of individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC): General guidance for the management of the dead related to COVID-19.

Based on its forensic capacity and experience gained worldwide from the management of the dead in emergencies, including epidemics, the International Committee of the Red Cross has been asked by the authorities and other relevant stakeholders in some of its operational contexts to advise on the management of the dead from COVID-19 infection, for which it has prepared the following guidance. This includes advice on the handling of COVID-19 fatalities and a set of considerations for managers faced with the need to plan for adequately responding to a possible surge in fatalities caused by COVID-19.

The fate of human remains in a maritime context and feasibility for forensic humanitarian action to assist in their recovery and identification.

The number of annual maritime fatalities reported in the Mediterranean has more than doubled in the last two years, a phenomenon closely linked to the increase of migrants attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean. The majority of victims reportedly never gets recovered, which in part relates to the fact that the mechanisms and interaction of factors affecting marine taphonomy are still largely not understood. These factors include intrinsic factors such as whether the individual was alive or dead at the time of submergence, the individual's stature and clothing, as well as extrinsic factors such including ambient temperature, currents, water depth, salinity and oxygen levels. This paper provides a compilation of the current literature on factors influencing marine taphonomy, recovery and identification procedures for submerged remains, and discusses the implications for the retrieval and identification of maritime mass fatalities as part of the humanitarian response, specifically humanitarian forensic action, to the consequences of the current migration phenomenon.

Humanitarian forensic action - Its origins and future.

Humanitarian forensic action is the application of the knowledge and skills of forensic medicine and science to humanitarian action, especially following conflicts or disasters. It has its early roots in the experience of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team and that of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, is moulded by International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law and was developed by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Having demonstrated its worth, this new field of application of forensic medicine and science needs further development, integration and research.

The Ebola epidemic in Liberia and managing the dead-A future role for Humanitarian Forensic Action?

With some of their economies, communities and health systems weakened by decades of war and poor governance, it was no accident that an epidemic of Ebola virus disease broke out in west Africa. Being spread in part by contact with body fluids of those who had died from the disease, funerary rites and the way dead bodies were managed were important modes of transmission. The Liberian Red Cross, supported by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, undertook the challenging task of managing the dead bodies in Monrovia during the epidemic. The work was undertaken by volunteers, not health care workers, who were trained and equipped for this task. The authors observed their work and were impressed. Valuable lessons were learned for mortuaries generally, and for Humanitarian Forensic Action involving the management of highly infectious human remains.

Management of dead bodies after disasters: a field manual for first responders

Publication from 2006, republished on 2009 about how to promote better treatment of victims and their families. It includes controle of diseases, how to deal with the bodies, about communication and support to families. It also includes annexes. Document in pdf format; 54 pages.

Gestion des dépouilles mortelles lors de catastrophes: Manuel pratique à lÆusage des premiers intervenants

Ce Manuel pratique à l'usage des premiers intervenants propose aux non-spécialistes des recommandations simples pour gérer la récupération, lÆidentification de base, l'entreposage et lÆinhumation des corps après une catastrophe. Il contient aussi des suggestions sur le soutien à apporter aux familles et sur la communication avec le public et les médias. Il sera en outre utile à ceux qui élaborent des plans de préparation aux catastrophes très meurtrières. Il comporte des recommandations pertinentes pour les autorités locales, régionales et nationales, ainsi que pour les organisations non gouvernementales. Le manuel inclut aussi des formulaires types pour l'identification, l'enregistrement et l'inventaire des dépouilles.