Missing Persons Documentary Launch

European Commission member Stefan Fuele will launch a documentary on the bi-communal efforts of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP).

CMP Members Mrs. Gülden Plümer Küçük (Turkish Cypriot Member) and Mr. Elias Georgiades (Greek Cypriot Member) will launch the film at a public event at the Ledra Palace Hotel on Thursday, 14 October 2010, beginning at 17:10 p.m. 

The documentary focuses on the work of the CMP and its young scientists who represent both communities, and on the families of the missing persons who waited for decades to learn the fate of their loved ones, said the CMP in a statement.

The 20-minute documentary contains video messages expressing support to the CMP from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Director-General for Enlargement of the European Commission, Michael Leigh, and by the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Jakob Kellenberger, among others.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “Determining the fate of missing persons occupies an increasingly prominent place in peacemaking, peacekeeping and post conflict peace-building. Painful and emotional issues are involved,” a sentiment echoed through an emotional expression of gratitude by the wife of a missing person whose message to a CMP member is “You give us courage! Thank God! Thank God!”

"The work of the CMP is locally driven and facilitated by the UN, and carried out for all the people of Cyprus.  The mandate of the CMP is purely humanitarian:  to establish the fate of missing persons. The Committee does not attempt to establish the cause of death or attribute responsibility for the death of missing persons," said the CMP.

Additional information on the CMP can be found here - http://www.cmp-cyprus.org