PACE CALLS FOR AZERI-ARMENIAN CO-OP ON POWS

AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
June 14 2006

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) 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 countries had expressed readiness to forge
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 that the sides are making such statements is evidence that
the idea of establishing a joint institution may soon come into being,"
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 said 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 collection of information. We also
found out that their relatives are facing social problems. All these
developments will be reflected in the report," Platvoet said.

The rapporteur met with members of the Azeri delegation at PACE.

Several proposals he made during the discussions were not accepted
by the MPs. He suggested that the Azerbaijani side collaborate with
the institutions and NGOs in Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh and send the
parents of the missing persons to Armenia to assist in searching for
them, which did not go down well with the Azerbaijani representatives.