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Abstract

The need of the families to know the fate and whereabouts of their missing relatives and the societal and individual need for accountability are equally pressing needs in post-conflict scenarios. Distinct, but intertwined, these needs often receive diverging or uncoordinated legal and policy responses. The present thesis explores how the existing international legal framework meets these needs during and in the aftermath of an armed conflict. To conduct this examination, the thesis first reviews the relevant legal framework and provides an examination of the principles subsumed under it so as to find normative synergies implementable on the ground. Second, the thesis articulates an explanation of the reason why the dialectic between International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law matters in the aftermath of an armed conflict. Lastly, the thesis offers an understanding of the operationalization of the right of families to know the fate of their relatives and of the duty to account for missing persons within the remit of post-conflict peacebuilding processes.

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