Humanitarian forensic action - Its origins and future

•Applying forensic science to humanitarian activities.•Especially following armed conflict and disasters.•Origins involve Grandmothers de Plaza de Mayo and international humanitarian law.•Future crises cannot be predicted or prevented, but responses can be prepared.•Regional forensic arrangements, and research, needed to improve effectiveness.

Humanitarian forensic action is the application of the knowledge and skills of forensic medicine and science to humanitarian action, especially following conflicts or disasters. It has its early roots in the experience of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team and that of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, is moulded by International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law and was developed by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Having demonstrated its worth, this new field of application of forensic medicine and science needs further development, integration and research.