Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 11 May 1999

Vol. 504 No. 4

Written Answers. - Missing Persons Committee.

Breeda Moynihan-Cronin

Ceist:

83 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the initiative, if any, he has to try to help establish the fate of the 1,619 people still missing following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1994. [12032/99]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Andrews)

Since my reply to Deputy McManus on 30 March on Question No. 47, the Government has again been in contact with the United Nations on the important question of missing persons in Cyprus. We have reiterated that we stand ready to provide any assistance which the UN considers could be helpful in this regard.

As indicated in my earlier replies, the question of missing persons is one of the important and sensitive issues which will have to be addressed in the context of the search for an overall political solution to the Cyprus question. In July 1981, a committee on missing persons was established, comprising a representative of each of the two communities on the island and a representative appointed by the UN Secretary General. However, progress proved difficult to achieve.

In April 1996, on the occasion of the retirement of his representative on the committee, the Secretary General wrote to the leaders of the two communities requesting a reaffirmation of their commitment to making progress on the issue, before the appointment of a new representative. He set out a number of proposals to which he sought their agreement, concerning the definition of categories of cases, the sequence in which investigations would be carried out and the question of cases without known witnesses. Although both sides informed the Secretary General that they agreed with his proposals, the tasks involved remain to be fully implemented by them. However, in June 1998 the Secretary General appointed Mr. Jean Pierre Ritter as his new representative on the committee of missing persons. The first meeting of the newly reconstituted committee was held on 28 January 1999.

A related but separate development took place in July 1997, when the leaders of the two communities reached bilateral agreement regarding the exchange of information on the location of the graves of missing persons and the return of their remains. Information with regard to a number of missing persons is understood to have been subsequently exchanged by both sides. Regrettably, issues concerning the victims of thecoup d'état against President Makarios in 1974 remain unresolved and continue to impede progress.

I continue to be concerned at the failure to move forward on this important matter. However, in our recent contacts with the UN we have been assured that the issue of missing persons is among the matters being discussed in the confidential contacts, which are currently taking place between the leaders of the two communities and the Secretary General's deputy special representative Dame Anne Hercus, in the search for an overall political solution to the Cyprus question. The Government will continue to follow the issue closely and to provide every assistance to the UN in its efforts to help both communities to achieve progress in the matter.