[Issues related to the identification process of catastrophes victims]

Catastrophes on an international scale with an increasingly pronounced terrorist factor (for example, the terrorist attacks in the United States of America on September 11, 2001) are occurring with increasing frequency. This fact compels the international forensic medical community--especially at the present moment--to undertake coordinated and rapid measures in the area, closely related to our profession, of issues connected with problems of identifying the victims of catastrophes. To date organizational issues have not been harmonized to the required at an international level degree. The subject has been raised frequently at congresses and symposiums of forensic medicine. The real and present danger of catastrophes at a national and regional level demands the adoption of rapid organizational activities at these levels too. Because the victims of such catastrophes are often of various nationalities, these activities also demand urgent organizational harmonization in keeping with established international norms. The following article addresses this issue. It contains propositions in outline with the aim of presenting them to discussion. These suggestions refer solely to organizational activities on the regional, national, and international levels, connected with the issue of identification in the broad sense of the word.