The tracing dept. is an important one in the IRCS which its activities began long time ago, and there were old publications referred to exchanging messages processesinthe past century in addition to tracing and registration of affected families as a result of natural disasters thatIraq experienced.
When the Iraqi-Iranian war broke out in 1980 the tracingrole inthe IRCS excelled through tracingprocedures for the missing people, exchanging information between families and prisoners of war (PoWs)in cooperation with the Iraqi news agency, Permanent Committee for war victims and with the ICRC (which established its delegation in Iraq during that period of time).
When the war ended in 1988 the IRCS participated in the operations of exchanging the (PoWs) between Iraq and Iran.In 1999 a cooperation agreementwas signed between the IRCS and the ICRC in the scope of restoring family links, and accordingly, the tracing dept. was established.
The general objective: restoring family links and alleviating the suffering of vulnerable people affected by war, armed conflicts and natural disasters.

The target categories:

• The separated families as a result of (Wars, armed conflicts, natural disasters).
• PoWs, detainees and their families.
• The families of the missing people.
• Migrants.

The tracing activities:

• Red Crescent Messages (RCMs):receiving messages ofcivilians, detainees and interment cards, and delivering them to the addressees in the field.
• Attestations of Detention (AoDs):includes collecting the attestations of detention requests for the Ex-PoWs and the released detainees, in addition to distributing the issued (AoDs)to the inquirers as soon as we receive them in cooperation with the ICRC.
• Tracing Requests (TRs):collecting and following up the tracing requests for the missing people inside and outside Iraq.
• Allegation of Arrest (AoAs):following up the cases for people who are allegedly arrested by the multinational forces and by the Iraqi authorities.
• Other activities: Including different activities like restoring links for separated families, insuring phone calls, transferring human remains, repatriation of foreigners to their home countries, in addition to the transmission of documents (death certificates, graduation certificates, …etc.) in cooperation with the concerned sides and with the national societies .