CMP secures funding for vital operations

The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) said Tuesday that its funding and its operations are not under threat.

In a press release, issued to “clarify media reports over its funding made over the last few days” CMP says that it has seven teams excavating daily across the island and operates an anthropological laboratory assessed as being the best in southeastern Europe by international experts, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

It notes that CMP's operational budget amounts to EUR 3.2 million a year and is composed of three main cost centers: excavations and exhumations, anthropological analysis and genetic identification adding that the CMP project is co-funded by the European Union, which is the Committee's main and most regular donor with an annual contribution of EUR 2.6 million. In addition to funds received by the EU, 10 countries are regularly contributing to CMP's budget.

In 2022, it says, the CMP raised funds above its regular 3.2 million budget. This year, three countries have pledged important donations, including EUR 1 million by Switzerland in a three-year grant.

The CMP points out that it has received information from the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating the end of Germany's financial support to the CMP citing a reorganization of funds for foreign aid that will be prioritized towards Ukraine and migration in particular. The CMP says it is extremely grateful for Germany’s generous contribution of EUR 0.8 million since 2006.

However, it adds, "This is by no means marking an end to the financial support by other donors to CMP which has both broadened and increased over the past five years".

"The CMP operations are under no threat", the press release concludes.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. Since then, the fate of hundreds of people remains unknown.

A Committee on Missing Persons has been established, upon agreement between the leaders of the two communities, with the scope of exhuming, identifying and returning to their relatives the remains of 492 Turkish Cypriots and 1,510 Greek Cypriots, who went missing during the inter-communal fighting of 1963-1964 and in 1974.