Archive · 6 Jun 2025
Red Cross Leader Florence Anselmo Reflects on Finding Missing Persons
Florence Anselmo is leaving her job leading the Red Cross team that helps find missing people.
This work can be very emotional, especially when families are reunited.
The number of people looking for missing loved ones has grown a lot, because of wars, migration, and climate change.
The Red Cross is using AI to help find people but also facing the challenge of cyberattacks.
In Syria alone, tens of thousands are still missing.
Finding missing people is a difficult job, with moments of joy and sadness, and the need to sometimes make hard choices.
Florence Anselmo is retiring as head of the Red Cross's missing persons agency.
The number of missing persons cases has increased significantly due to conflicts and migration.
The Red Cross uses AI to help in tracing missing persons.
Cyberattacks pose a threat to confidential data used for tracing.
The agency faces a huge task in Syria, where many are still missing.
- Who
- Florence Anselmo, head of the Red Cross's missing persons agency.
- What
- Florence Anselmo is leaving her position, which involves tracing and reuniting families separated by war, migration, and disasters.
- When
- Anselmo is preparing to leave her post in June.
- Where
- Geneva, Switzerland, and various locations where tracing efforts are underway, including Syria.
- Why
- To reunite families and provide closure after the loss of contact.
- Florence Anselmo's Role
- Head of the Red Cross's Central Tracing Agency
- Anselmo's tenure
- 9 years
- Approximate number of missing persons being traced by ICRC in 2024
- 255,000
- Estimated number of missing persons in Syria
- 100,000 to 200,000