Verification and identity
You can look up emergency numbers and official resources without an account. Submitting a request will require real-name verification. This page describes the official design. A backend is not connected yet, so this site cannot yet check identity, store a request, or issue any confirmation.
Browsing does not require registration
Anyone may use the emergency-number directory and the official resource links without creating an account or giving a name. Looking up that information does not identify you to this site.
Real-name verification for a request
When a backend is connected, a person who wants to post a request will need to complete real-name verification. The intended check has two parts: a government-issued identity document, and a liveness check — a short photo or video capture that confirms a real human being is present and that the face matches the document. The aim is to confirm that the registrant is a real person, and to reduce fake requests used for fraud or harm.
Privacy, minimisation and encryption
- Only the minimum information needed for verification and safe referral would be collected.
- Identity data would be encrypted in transit and at rest. Access would be limited to people who need it to verify a case or make a controlled referral.
- The real name and a precise location are hidden from the public by default, especially in sensitive cases.
- Contact details and identity documents would not be published on the website or shared as an open file.
Family members and authorised proxies
If the person in need cannot submit a request themselves — for example because they have been kidnapped or trafficked, or are detained in a telecom-fraud compound or similar site with identity documents confiscated — a family member or authorised proxy may submit on their behalf. The proxy would also complete real-name verification and would need to show the relationship or the authorisation to act. This path exists so that a person who has lost their documents is not left without a way to ask for help.
This site does not certify official identity
112 Help Me is a civilian coordination platform. It does not issue an “official identity confirmation”, a legal status, or a substitute for government, police, or international-organisation case files. A stamp or badge from this site would not prove who someone is to a court, a border authority, or a humanitarian agency.
International practice: referral and alignment, not a new certificate
The usual practice among international organisations is not for a civilian website to confirm official identity on its own. It is to refer a person into — and, where a formal partnership exists, to align with — the identity and case processes that already belong to competent bodies:
- UNHCR, for refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless people and many internally displaced people, through its own registration and assistance channels (including UNHCR HELP).
- The ICRC, including Restoring Family Links, for people separated or missing because of armed conflict or other humanitarian emergencies, through ICRC and National Society casework.
- IOM, for migrants seeking assistance, including protection against trafficking, through IOM offices and official “Get help” channels.
- Local emergency services, police, consular authorities and other competent national bodies, which remain responsible for identity, investigation and emergency response in their territory.
Where this site can help in the future, it would be by a controlled referral into those existing processes — not by replacing them.
Reducing fraud and harm
- Official channels come first. This site must not be used to bypass the police, a consulate, or UNHCR, ICRC or IOM procedures.
- A case that involves immediate danger to life is directed only to the local emergency number. It is never accepted through the request form.
- When matching exists, a sensitive case would be visible only to verified official teams in the relevant territory, not to the general public and not to unverified respondents. That access control is part of the design; it is not live yet.
- Document and liveness checks, and any later cross-check against public or partner records, would be used to reduce impersonation, including attempts by telecom-fraud groups to post false requests or to harvest information about victims.
What is not connected yet
The request form on this site is a preview only. It does not store what you type, does not check an identity document, does not run a liveness test, and does not send a case to any authority or rescue team. Please do not treat a preview, or any page on this site, as official confirmation of identity or as a filed case. The privacy note and the local matching page explain what would change when a backend is connected.