Appearance

Missing Persons ​

While SJAC's primary analysis methodology supports criminal accountability, this guide is specifically designed for missing persons investigations using Bayanat.

TIP

Read the main Analysis Methodology first, as this guide only covers aspects specific to missing persons work.

Terms ​

  • Missing Person: An individual out of contact whose fate and whereabouts are unknown
  • Fate and whereabouts: "Fate refers to the state or condition of the person (alive or dead), while whereabouts relates to the person's journey and the circumstances that led to that state and location." Never assume dead until remains are located and identified.
  • Detention Facility: Any location where people were detained against their will, regardless of duration (prisons, holding centers, training camps, private homes, etc.)
  • Gravesite: Any location where human remains have been discovered (individual or mass graves, unburied remains)

Bulletins ​

Analysts manually create Bulletins for every piece of documentation used in investigations. Even when Actor pages are auto-generated from interview data, corresponding Bulletins must still be created for the interviews. This allows distinguishing between documentation sources and easy reference in Incident descriptions.

Locations ​

After generating Bulletins, create specific Location pages for sites mentioned in documentation. In missing persons work, these are "points of interest" distinct from normal administrative locations. They allow collating information about specific sites (detention facilities, execution sites, gravesites) with precise geographic coordinates.

Actors ​

Build Actor pages for missing persons and survivors. The primary work involves manually generating Events for the various stages of a disappearance or detention. These Events inform search queries to identify patterns.

Key qualifications:

  • Alleged perpetrators: Follow standard methodology (no disappearance-specific Events). Their role is visible through Related Actor and Incident searches.
  • Insider witnesses: No Actor pages. If interviews provide information about specific individuals, capture it in those individuals' Actor Events.
  • Redaction: Consider security requirements. SJAC redacts names of all individuals except those still believed missing.
  • Consolidated Actor Tool: Used to continuously update Actor pages with new information, departing from the standard "closed universe" principle.

Incidents ​

Gather evidence about a violation documented across multiple Bulletins. The objective is to integrate data from Bulletins and Actor pages and generate new conclusions, not duplicate existing data.

Scope varies by context. SJAC generates Incidents for discrete events implicating groups of people: mass abduction/arrest, mass death, or meaningfully related disappearances (e.g., arrested for involvement in the same activity). Not generated for generic similar offenses or facility co-location alone.