11 July 2005

Dundee student aids effort to identify Bosnian dead

On the 10th anniversary of the massacre at Srebrenica - one of the most devastating incidents of the Bosnian conflict - efforts are still ongoing to identify the bodies of the 8000 Muslim men and boys who were killed between July 11 and 15, 1995.

Maureen Schaefer (31), a postgraduate student in the Unit of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology at the University of Dundee, has been working on this grim task with the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). Maureen recently returned to the University after spending seven weeks in Bosnia, a trip supported by an £800 grant from the Scottish International Education Trust.

ICMP has so far identified more than 2,070 bodies of Srebrenica victims, more than 580 of whom will be buried at the Srebrenica memorial ceremony on July 11, 2005. Many bodies remain in morgues, waiting to be identified.

"There are these entire morgues still filled with remains waiting to be identified," said Maureen. "It is still a huge task but it is one in which progress is being made."

The remains are identified by ICMP using large-scale DNA analysis in conjunction with anthropological analysis. However, in their unprecedented efforts to identify the missing using DNA technology, ICMP has encountered some limitations to using such a technique. One of these limitations is the inability to distinguish between the identities of siblings.

"The problem when identifying the missing associated with the fall of Srebrenica is that as a majority of the male inhabitants lost their lives it is not infrequent for a family to be missing two or more sons, whose age difference is minimal," said Maureen. "DNA analysis alone isn’t enough to distinguish identity in those cases."

Maureen has been working to build a new Bosnian-specific database which will help identify sets of brothers and aid in the separation of commingled remains, a common problem in Bosnia where bodies were buried, exhumed and the remains then re-buried, resulting in mass graves with a high frequency of partial and disarticulated bodies.

Data on epiphyseal union, part of the process of skeletal development, can be used to identify specific remains. But the core standards of measurement are based on data relating to American males, whose development is different to Bosnian males. Maureen has been collecting data which will eventually provide Bosnian specific standards, vital for giving the most accurate results.

"The aim of my research is to help with the identification of remains associated with the fall of Srebrenica," said Maureen. "Data on epiphyseal union will help with both the individualization of brothers and the sorting and re-association of commingled remains. This past trip to Bosnia consisted of data collection while the upcoming months provide the opportunity for analysis."

NOTE TO EDITORS.

Maureen was awarded the 2005 British Association for Human Identification (BAHID) student prize at their recent meeting in Dublin.

By Roddy Isles, Head of Press 01382 344910, out of hours: 07968298585, r.isles@dundee.ac.uk