A review of the Missing Persons Committee’s protocols is imperative

Statement by AKEL MP Nikos Kettirou and Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees, Enclaved, Missing and War-stricken Persons

12 April 2022

Today in the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees, Enclaved, Missing and War-stricken Persons we discussed developments regarding the efforts to determine the fate of our missing persons. The Committee meeting was closed because we knew in advance, after consultation with the Commissioner for the Presidency and the Greek Cypriot member of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP), that there were developments on the issue of the identification of the 2,500 remains/bones in bags in Missing Persons’ Committee premises, because the protocols provided for this. We had, at the time, stressed our insistence that the remains/bones be sent for identification because no one could ensure that there were no additional persons who had not been identified. The second reason was the state’s obligation to turn over to the relatives all the remains of our missing persons.

After numerous efforts, the gradual sending of 2,500 bones for identification has now begun. Early indications confirm the concerns that relatives of missing persons had that additional individuals are likely to be found through the identification of these bones. This example shows the need to review the protocols of the CMP.

Despite the steps that are being taken, there have been complaints made to the Committee from relatives of missing persons that despite the fact that there is information on both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot missing persons, investigations are not progressing. We will focus on this issue at the next meeting of the Committee.

Finally, I would like to note that following the visit of members of the Committee to the occupied Maronite villages last Friday and in response to a letter from the representative of the Maronite community, we have today registered two ex officio issues for discussion. The first is a discussion of the general problems the enclaved and resettled people in the occupied areas are facing, which we discussed during our visit. The second concerns the danger and the need for maintenance of the building, which used to house the village kindergarten and is currently being used as a place for children’s activities.