UN Secretary-General António Guterres visits the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus
Release Date: 29 July 2026
PRESS RELEASE
(Nicosia, 29 July 2026) – The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) welcomed the visit
of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to its Anthropological Laboratory, located
within the UN Protected Area in Nicosia, on 28 July 2026. Secretary-General Guterres was
accompanied by Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs,
Jean Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, and Khassim Diagne, Special
Representative and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus.
During the visit, the UN, Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot Members of the CMP briefed the
Secretary-General on the Committee’s humanitarian work. He subsequently toured the laboratory,
where he observed the scientific processes underpinning the identification of missing persons.
The Secretary-General expressed his deep appreciation for the CMP’s bicommunal operation, which
locates, identifies and returns the remains of missing persons to their families. He commended the
Committee’s efforts to help bring long-awaited answers to families who have endured decades of
uncertainty over the fate of their loved ones.
The CMP was established in April 1981 under the auspices of the United Nations through an
agreement between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, following a call to
establish a mechanism made in two UN General Assembly resolutions.
The CMP Project on the Exhumation, Identification and Return of Remains of Missing Persons in
Cyprus became operational in 2006. The European Union remains the project’s principal financial
contributor.
To date, the remains of 1,075 missing persons from both Cypriot communities have been identified
and returned to their families for dignified burials.
The CMP relies on donor support to implement its bi-communal project.