The International Factor and the Missing Persons of Cyprus: Humanitarian Identification Programmes as a Path to Investigation and Rendering Historical Justice

Abstract

The Republic of Cyprus experienced political, social, and military instability, which started little after its establishment in 1960 and culminated with the 1974- war events. The missing persons from these events remain to date an unresolved issue, while their relatives await their recovery, identification, and repatriation. According to International Humanitarian Law, the missing persons are victims of an armed conflict entitled to a timely, appropriate and respectful burial, and their relatives have a right to know the fate of their loved ones. Within that scope, the United Nations General Assembly issued three resolutions during 1974– 1977 calling all involved parties, and especially Turkey, to make every possible effort to resolve the matter. International organizations, namely the Physicians for Human Rights, INFORCE, and the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF) were instrumental in humanitarian identification efforts in Cyprus.
This study presents the contribution of forensic sciences to identifying missing persons in Cyprus in tandem with their impact on healing personal, family, and historical trauma. The authors examine identification efforts within the transitional justice context; they compare the humanitarian identification programmes running in Cyprus to international examples, seeking to identify good practices which other countries could adopt and pitfalls they should avoid.