Cofavic Demands International Standards for Identifying Earthquake Victims

As Venezuelan authorities proceed with identifying victims of a recent double earthquake through DNA testing of relatives of the missing, the organization Cofavic has issued a warning. Cofavic insists that these procedures must be conducted under international protocols to ensure technical rigor, transparency, and respect for human rights. The organization highlighted that the recovery and identification of human remains require specialized mechanisms to prevent errors, especially in tragedies with a high death toll, such as the one on June 24, which has officially claimed 5,398 lives.

Cofavic stated that all actions in this matter must align with the principles of the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Deaths and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons against Forced Disappearance. They further explained that these instruments should be complemented by Interpol's Identification of Victims of Catastrophes (IVC) protocol, which is internationally recognized for identifying deceased individuals in mass casualty events.

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all actions in this matter must be carried out in accordance with the principles established in the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Deaths, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons against Forced Disappearance.

The organization, which has supported legal processes related to forced disappearances and mass exhumations, stressed that forensic work must be carried out by independent, impartial teams with the necessary technical capacity to guarantee reliable results. Cofavic also emphasized the importance of preserving the chain of custody, protecting all collected evidence, and exhaustively documenting each stage of the process. The involvement of specialists in forensic anthropology, archaeology, legal medicine, genetics, and criminalistics is considered indispensable.

This statement comes as numerous families continue to search for missing relatives in La Guaira, the state that suffered the most destruction from the earthquakes. Authorities have not yet released an official figure for the number of people still unaccounted for. As part of the identification efforts, the government recently called on relatives of missing children and adolescents to provide DNA samples for comparison with genetic profiles obtained from recovered bodies.

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the application of these instruments must be complemented by Interpol's Identification of Victims of Catastrophes (IVC) protocol, internationally recognized for the identification of deceased persons in mass casualty events.