Terms of Reference and Mandate

CMP’s mandate is set out in the “Terms of Reference” agreed upon in 1981 and in subsequent agreements by the leaders of the two communities:

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Establishment of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus

1. A Committee on missing persons in Cyprus will be formed immediately consisting of Three Members. The Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides will each appoint one humanitarian person to the Committee. The Third Member will be an official selected by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for that purpose with the agreement of both sides and appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

2. The decisions of the Committee will be taken by consensus to the extent possible. In the event of disagreement between the representatives of the two sides, the third member shall consult both of them with a view to bringing their views together and reaching a consensus.

3. Each of the Committee Members can be assisted by up to two staff assistants as necessary. No other persons will participate in the deliberations or investigative work of the committee. No person directly involved with the issue of missing persons may be appointed as staff assistant. The Committee will not request outside expert assistance.

4. The Committee will not have a chairman, but the meetings will be directed by the members on a rotating basis for a period of one month’s duration — the first director will be the official of the ICRC, to be followed by the Turkish Cypriot member or the Greek Cypriot member, to be determined at the first meeting by lot.

5. The Three Members of the committee will meet immediately and will continue in regularly scheduled sessions for as long as required.

6. All parties concerned shall co-operate with the Committee to ensure access throughout the island for the investigative work of the Committee.

7. The Committee shall look only into cases of persons reported missing in the inter-communal fightings as well as in the events of July 1974 and afterwards.

8. The order of investigation of cases will be decided by the Committee, but it is agreed that the first investigative case will be put forward by the Turkish Cypriot member of the Committee. This will be followed by a case put forward by the Greek Cypriot member. The investigations will rotate to the extent possible until all cases have been examined.

9. The Committee’s entire proceedings and findings will be strictly confidential. Any violation of this rule would place the work of the Committee in jeopardy.

10. The Committee will determine whether to issue public statements or reports without prejudice to paragraph 9.

11. The Committee will not attempt to attribute responsibility for the deaths of any missing persons or make findings as to the cause of such deaths.

12. No disinterment will take place under the aegis of this committee. The Committee may refer requests for disinterment to the ICRC for processing under its customary procedures.

13. The Committee will use its best efforts to draw up comprehensive lists of missing persons of both communities, specifying as appropriate whether they are alive or dead, and in the latter case approximate time of the deaths.