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The issue of missing persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia is
humanitarian, not political
Belgrade, 24.05.2007 – The PACE Standing Committee, meeting in Belgrade
today, deplored that, twelve years since the end of hostilities, the
issue of the missing persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia remained
unsolved. According to a report by Leo Platvoet (Netherlands, UEL), the
number of missing persons as a result of the conflicts over the regions
of Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia can be calculated at 7
538 persons.
For the Standing Committee, the issue of missing persons is a
humanitarian problem with human rights and international humanitarian
law implications. It should "not be treated as a political issue" and
consequently should "not be dependent on the political settlements of
the disputes in the region".
In a resolution adopted today, the Standing Committee addresses to the
three countries a number of proposals to agree consolidated lists of the
missing, establish a multilateral mechanism for co-operation between
commissions for missing persons and work together on tracing, mapping,
identification and management of human remains. It also recalls that the
families of the missing need social, material and psychological support,
and that the memory of the missing needs to be respected.