The Committee’s on Missing Persons (CMP) Anthropological Laboratory is being extended thus enabling the Committee to increase the number of scientist working there aiming to expedite the process of identification.

According to an announcement issued here, the CMP is currently optimizing its operational structure and procedures, in order to further expedite the process of identification while preserving scientific quality. Changes include the extension of the Anthropological Laboratory and the increase in the number of scientists, review of working methods, and the appointment of an Identification Coordinator, with the task of expediting the identification process.

The Anthropological Laboratory’s extension, the CMP says, will enable the increase of the number of scientists working there, thus speeding up the laboratory’s rate of analysis of remains, which constitutes a very time-consuming process. Moreover, it is added that CMP’s working methods have been reviewed by various international forensic experts over the past months and the CMP will now proceed with their recommendations.

According to the announcement, a scientific advisory group composed of international experts from various scientific disciplines will be created to help both the CMP Anthropological Laboratory (CAL) and the Laboratory of Forensic Genetics (LabFoG) of the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING) to implement the agreed procedures. The extension of the CMP Anthropological Laboratory and the accompanying increase in the number of scientists should be completed by the end of July, the announcement says, adding that the scientific advisory group will then be convened in order to assist in the identification process and provide answers more quickly to the grieving families about the fate of their missing loved ones.