About Us

What We Do

IFFAMPAC / FOM unites family associations of missing persons worldwide from armed conflicts. IFFAMPAC / FOM is a service organization where national family associations of missing persons can forge linkages with other family associations in other regions and countries as well as with international experts such as trauma counselors, legal advisors, and investigative teams.

IFFAMPAC / FOM focuses on the surviving families of armed conflict who face tremendous social, economic, legal, and cultural challenges when a primary economic provider of the family vanishes and cannot be accounted for as a result of conflict. As such, IFFAMPAC / FOM’s primary goal as a service organization is to assist surviving families in their efforts to remain together, and to acquire information regarding the status of their missing family members.

Accordingly, one of IFFAMPAC / FOM’s key goals is to improve the economic sustainability of families and communities. When family members are educated, retrained, and assisted in establishing businesses or working in high level entry positions for businesses, they can contribute to the overall increased economic stability of their country.

IFFAMPAC / FOM also acts as an advocate for family associations within the United Nations, and works with the family associations to request any information available regarding the status of missing family members. IFFAMPAC / FOM works with family associations to make sure that collected data is clarified, accurately documented, and disseminated as public information.

IFFAMPAC / FOM’s work continually strives to create public awareness of the hardships families face as a result of missing family members; work within country limitations to gain support for the families to become self-sustaining healthy contributors to their communities; work with other NGOs to assist in reunification of families whenever feasible; coordinate the securing of humanitarian aid to family members; identify and advocate improvements in local country laws to protect the rights of the family members of missing persons; and improve opportunities for economic assistance to the families.

IFFAMPAC is also committed to raising global awareness of the plight of the silent victims of war–the families left behind–and to give these families a visible forum in which to express their feelings of loss and their hopes for a future free of armed conflict.The plight of the missing is a perennial consequence of war, yet it is one in which further needless anguish and suffering can be prevented or, at least, minimized.

As IFFAMPAC / FOM works to address the psychological needs of the surviving family members, we are deeply concerned with providing assistance to these members to get back into the workplace. Since IFFAMPAC / FOM serves as a “link” to private businesses who wish to open offices in the location that we are establishing branch offices, we endeavor to have family members work in those businesses to add stability and economic infusion to the family unit.

IFFAMPAC / FOM is interested in creating the IFFAMPAC / FOM Councils, unique Councils that would be comprised of representatives from all the regions that IFFAMPAC / FOM is located in. These councils will work as special advisors to IFFAMPAC / FOM, and members are directly responsible to other family associations within their respective regions. The goals of these councils are to advance economic stability of the regions as well as to work with government officials and IFFAMPAC / FOM as representatives of family associations to assist in the resolution of open cases of missing persons.

IFFAMPAC / FOM focuses on special training sessions and projects for family members, and professional educational meetings for government officials.

IFFAMPAC / FOM is very interested in working closely with the families. We feel that by working together, we can accomplish a number of productive endeavors:

• First, we wish to attract businesses to the locations that we are establishing branch offices and request employment opportunities for family association members.
• Second, IFFAMPAC / FOM is interested in working with governments to draft and stabilize laws that will result in productive long-term economic stability of the country.
• Third, IFFAMPAC / FOM wishes to assist the government officials in guiding them through the complicated and emotional process of accountability of missing family members.

Only through a unified team effort supported by the families can stability in the region be achieved, opening the way for long term stable growth.