The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus signed two separate Memoranda of Understanding with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Argentinian Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF), lending support and expertise to their efforts to ease the suffering of families of missing persons.

According to a CMP announcement, the ICRC and the EAAF have a long-standing cooperation in providing support to people who are facing the consequences of disappearances, resulting from armed conflict or other situations.

The newly signed Memorandum with the ICRC “reflects the CMP’s growing importance as an example of best practice to other countries dealing with missing persons as a result of armed conflict” it is added.

Through the agreement, the CMP says it will work closely with the ICRC to bring decision-makers and forensic practitioners from countries in the Middle East and beyond to Cyprus in order to gain first hand impressions of the CMP’s work and receive training in forensic archaeology and anthropology as well as psychosocial support.

As far as the newly signed Memorandum of Understanding with the EAAF is concerned, the CMP notes that both institutions “take their cooperation to a new level by joining forces”. In particular, they will create a permanent training capacity in the CMP that will enable CMP scientists to work alongside EAAF experts in the training of groups of forensic practitioners from the Middle East region and beyond, the announcement concludes.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied its northern third. Since then, the fate of hundreds of people remains unknown.

A Committee on Missing Persons has been established, upon agreement between the leaders of the two communities, with the scope of exhuming, identifying and returning the remains of missing persons to their relatives.