ZAGREB, 16 Oct (Hina) - The International Commission on Missing Persons in the former Yugoslavia has decided to establish a Survivors Fund in order to facilitate the search for persons who went missing during armed conflicts in the
region, the Commission said in a statement Wednesday.
ZAGREB, 16 Oct (Hina) - The International Commission on Missing
Persons in the former Yugoslavia has decided to establish a
Survivors Fund in order to facilitate the search for persons who
went missing during armed conflicts in the region, the Commission
said in a statement Wednesday. #L#
The establishment of the Commission was announced by the U.S.
President Bill Clinton at a G-7 meeting in France in June. The
Commission held its initial meeting on October 11 and 12 in Geneva
in order to consider past efforts in the search for missing persons
and establish further necessary steps, said the statement, sent to
the Croatian news agency Hina.
The Geneva session was chaired by Cyrus Vance, former U.S.
Secretary of State, Lord Carrington, former British Foreign
Minister, Robert Badinter, former French Minister of Justice, Jose
Ayala Lasso, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Cornelio
Sommaruga, President of the International Committee of the Red
Cross.
The Commissioners identified four areas for future activities.
They agreed to establish a Survivors Fund in order to support
efforts by individuals and groups attempting to resolve missing-
person cases.
The Commission is also to ask from concerned governments to
cooperate with the ICRC-chaired Working Group for missing persons,
which was formed in line with the Dayton agreement.
'Serious problems have arisen with some of the humanitarian
exhumations conducted on the territory of the former Yugoslavia.
Sites may be mined and there may be a variety of other security
concerns related to exhumation activity'. The Commission would
therefore 'explore the steps necessary to expand their
administrative efforts and obtain priority for mine clearance and
security activity associated with humanitarian exhumations'.
Since there was no single organization to which the press and
public could turn routinely for information on the subject of
missing-person efforts, the Commissioners agreed that a principal
duty of the Commission's Sarajevo Office 'shall be to receive and
disseminate full and accurate information concerning all aspects of
the missing-person effort throughout the former Yugoslavia'.
Before their next session, the Commissioners would visit the
territory of the former Yugoslavia to discuss the Commission's work
with families of the missing and with concerned governmental
leaders, the statement said.
(hina) rm
161944 MET oct 96