Release Date: Nov 15, 2016
PRESS RELEASE
CMP exhibition opens at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva
(Geneva, 10 November 2016) – Today, a photo exhibition on the work of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus opened at the Palais des Nations, the United Nations’ European headquarters in Geneva. The event was hosted jointly by the United Nations Director-General, Michael Møller, and the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, and attended by representatives of Member States and humanitarian organisations among others.
With photographs by renowned photographer Nick Danziger and texts by award winning author Rory MacLean, the exhibition, Beneath the Carob trees, depicts the efforts undertaken by the CMP’s scientists to locate, exhume, identify and return to their families the remains of persons who went missing during the events of 1963-4 and 1974. In his opening speech, Director-General Møller paid tribute to the work of the Committee’s scientists noting that "at every stage of the process, Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot scientists work alongside each other. “Beneath the Carob Trees” chronicles their efforts that are the foundation for coming to terms with the past, reconciling and paving a way into a peaceful future."
President Maurer stated that “the ICRC is honoured to work with the CMP, and especially its young Cypriot scientists, who show such unwavering dedication to healing the wounds that, after decades, are still open.
The CMP Members thanked the United Nations for its long-standing support to the Committee and reaffirmed their intention to continue the Committee’s close cooperation with the ICRC, in particular in the area of capacity building for efforts to identify missing persons in the wider Middle East region. They further expressed their determination to continue their bi-communal effort to establish the fate of the large number of missing Cypriots yet to be found.
To date, out of an official list of 2001 missing persons, the CMP has identified and returned the remains of more than 700 individuals to their families. The CMP is grateful to the European Union for having provided the funding for this exhibition and for the accompanying book, Beneath the Carob Trees: the missing lives of Cyprus.