Need for a Consensus of Best Practices for the Identification of people dead at sea, at our border

The Spanish Association of Anthropology and Forensic Odontology, organized its XII Conference through the University of Granada, under the topic “Identification at the Border”. Professionals from different disciplines, as well as members of social groups and people who have crossed the border discussed the complex forensic medical, judicial, social and humanitarian problem involved in the large number of people who have died at sea, who arrive at our coasts and are never identified. The main causes for the lack of efficiency in the identification process in this context were analyzed; these include the limited usefulness of the methods recognized in international protocols (Dactyloscopy, Odontology, DNA), given the impossibility of obtaining antemortem data with which to compare, the rejection of other methods and scientific evidence to guide and support the investigation process, the limited credibility given to the testimonies of companions and witnesses of shipwrecks, as well as the impossibility of sharing data between different institutions and groups involved that would facilitate identification. Therefore, our purpose is to create a consensus of good practices that will allow us to overcome these deficiencies and establish a working protocol whose main goal is the positive identification of persons who have died at sea.