EU gives €3 mln to Committee on Missing Persons

The European Commission approved on Monday a grant of EUR 3 mln to continue financial support from the European Union to the Committee of Missing Persons (CMP). This follows previous contributions of EUR 3,5 mln and makes the EU the largest single donor in support of the CMP.
The work of the Committee on Missing Persons aims at closing a painful chapter in the history of the island and thereby contributes to the process of reconciliation between both communities. The participation of bi-communal teams of scientific, anthropologists and archaeologists at all stages of the process as well as the bi-communal composition of the Committee fosters the spirit of reconciliation of the CMP mandate. This project has been considered as one of the most successful confidence building and reconciliation measures.
To date, several hundred remains of Greek Cypriots missing since the 1974 and Turkish Cypriots missing since the intercommunal strife in 1963 have been returned to their relatives for burial and closure, while many more are still being recovered from unmarked graves and identified from DNA samples.
On October 14, a public event for the launch of the documentary on the CMP will be held with the participation of Stefan Füle, Member of the European Commission for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy. Families of the missing persons and members of the CMP will also be present.