Ireland donates €30k to Committee on Missing Persons

The government of Ireland has donated a total of €30,000 to the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP), the committee said on Wednesday, with the donation bringing the total amount donated by Ireland to €530,000 since 2006. “The contribution will assist the committee’s goal to identify and return the remains of missing individuals to their families in 2026, helping to bring an end to the longstanding uncertainty endured by relatives for many years,” it said. The CMP was first established in 1981 and became operational in 2006, setting out to locate and identify a total of 2,002 people who went missing during Cyprus’ intercommunal conflicts. It has thus far exhumed 1,719 bodies and identified the remains of 1,082 people from the official list, as well as 217 others. Of those identified, 317 were Turkish Cypriots and 765 were Greek Cypriots. A total of 745 Greek Cypriots and 175 Turkish Cypriots remain missing. So far this year, the remains of four people have been found, with 19 having been identified. Eighteen of those identified were Greek Cypriots and the other was a Turkish Cypriot.