PACE CALLS FOR AZERI-ARMENIAN CO-OP ON HOSTAGES, MISSING PERSONS

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
June 12 2006

Baku, June 9, AssA-Irada
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) committee
rapporteur on migration, refugees and population has called on
Azerbaijan and Armenia to cooperate on prisoners of war, hostages
and missing persons.

“Collaboration between relevant bodies of the two countries is pivotal
to solve the problem, in particular, in terms of simplifying the
exchange of information,” Leo Platvoet told a news conference at the CE
Information Office in Baku upon completion of his visit to the region.

The rapporteur said both Azerbaijan and Armenia had expressed readiness
to forge some contacts to address the problems faced by these persons
and called for stepping up efforts in this area. He said the key
objective was to arrange cooperation between the two countries.

“The fact the sides are stating this means the idea of establishing a
joint institution in a certain format may come to the fore,” he said,
adding that this option has already been applied by the Red Cross in
the Balkans.

Platvoet said the entity could include representatives of Azerbaijan,
Armenia and both communities of Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh. He added,
however, that he had no discussions on the issue during his visit to
the two countries.

Platvoet emphasized that the goal of the visit was to prepare a
report on captives and missing persons in the South Caucasus based
on his findings. The document will mostly cover humanitarian issues
and have no bearing on politics, he stressed. “It will not touch on
political aspects, as this could compromise the work being done.”

The rapporteur said the report will be finalized in fall and further
submitted to PACE’s winter session for consideration.

“We have met with the family members of missing persons to study
their problems. These mainly concerned the collection of information.

We also found out that their relatives are facing social problems.

All these developments will be reflected in the report,” Platvoet
concluded.