The ICMP founded the Missing Persons Institute in 2000 and today the institute became a state institution.
The head of the ICMP mission, Kathryne Bomberger, said this was one of the most important steps in dealing with the issue of persons gone missing during the 1990s wars in the former Yugoslavia.
Bomberger said the institute's main task would be to draw up a missing persons database in order to eliminate the political manipulation of the number of the war victims.
The Missing Persons Institute will replace the Republika Srpska Office for Missing Persons and the Commission for Missing Persons of the Croat-Muslim Federation.
The institute's advisory committee will comprise members of the families of the missing, while the managing board will comprise eminent social and government figures.
An agreement whereby the Bosnian government takes the role of the institute's co-founder will be signed in Sarajevo on August 30.