Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, on international Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation, first provision on family assistance in 1976, when the countries of origin for accident victims became officially entitled to participate in the investigation.
In 2013 and in support of the Annex 13 provisions, the ICAO Council approved two new publications in this area: the ICAO Manual on Assistance to Aircraft Accident Victims and their Families (Doc 9973); and the ICAO Policy on Assistance to Aircraft Accident Victims and their Families (Doc 9998).
Those documents call for the States and relevant non-government organizations to ensure adequate and sufficient assistance is provided to accident victims and their families.
The topic of Assistance to Aircraft Accident Victims and their Families has now moved to the Facilitation Section with provisions related to this topic in Annex 9, however tasks related to regularly updating the accident victims and their families on the progress of the investigation are still the responsibility of the Accident Investigation Authority and covered in Annex 13.
Guidance to support these tasks are in the Manual of Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation (Parts I and IV) as well on this website.
