Cyprus’s search for missing persons gets funding boost
The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) has been granted an additional 2.6 million euros in funds following an agreement by the European Commission and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Cypriot media reported on Tuesday.
CMP, a a tripartite bi-communal investigatory committee set up to investigate 1,468 cases of Greek Cypriot and Greek missing persons and 502 cases of Turkish Cypriot missing persons from the 1974 invasion by Turkey, has already received a total of 12.1 million euros in European funding.
The committee has identified nearly 500 individuals since 2006 and returned their remains to their families, Cyprus Mail said on Tuesday.
According to Cypriot media, the latest information from the CMP, made available in mid-December, suggests that there are currently 271 burial sites on the excavation list, nine of which allegedly contain more than 20 remains each.
The CMP is also said to have 200 sets of human remains awaiting identification.