A/HRC/19/22 A. Right to life and the question of missing persons 9. According to article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Furthermore, article 1 of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance provides that any act of enforced disappearance is an offence to human dignity, placing the persons subjected thereto outside the protection of the law and inflicting severe suffering on them and their families; any act of enforced disappearance also violates or constitutes a grave threat to the right to life. 10. The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus 12 continued the exhumation, identification and return of the remains of missing persons. As a result of the intercommunal fighting as well as the events of July 1974 and afterwards, a total of 1,493 Greek Cypriots and 502 Turkish Cypriots have been officially reported as missing by both communities to the Committee. As at 30 November 2011, the remains of 833 individuals had been exhumed on both sides of the buffer zone by the Committee’s bicommunal teams of archaeologists; the remains of 483 missing persons had undergone examination at the Committee’s bicommunal anthropological laboratory in the United Nations Protected Area in Nicosia; and the remains of 310 missing individuals (249 Greek Cypriots and 61 Turkish Cypriots) had been returned to their respective families.13 However, during the reporting period, the Committee’s access to military areas in the north has been restricted.14 In view of the humanitarian dimension of the issue, it is important that the Committee’s exhumation requirements are accommodated throughout the island, including in military areas in the north.15 11. On 9 June 2011, the European Parliament adopted a declaration in which it fully endorsed the work of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus and recognized its postconflict role in promoting truth, remembrance and reconciliation in Cyprus. Furthermore, it called on the European Commission to continue to allocate sufficient resources to the Committee to enable it to fulfil its important mandate and called on the Governments of Turkey and of Cyprus to continue to support the Committee’s work, to redouble efforts to account for those individuals still listed as missing, and to ensure that all information that could facilitate the mission of the Committee is made freely available to it. 12. In its resolution 1986 (2011) of 13 June 2011, the Security Council welcomed the progress and continuation of the important activities of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus, trusting that this process would promote reconciliation between the communities. The Council also noted with regret, however, that the sides were withholding access to the remaining minefields in the buffer zone, noting the continued danger posed by mines in Cyprus. In this context, the Council called on both sides to allow access to deminers and to facilitate the removal of the remaining mines in Cyprus within the buffer zone, and urged both sides to extend demining operations outside the buffer zone. 12 13 14 15 6 The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus was established in April 1981 by agreement between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities under the auspices of the United Nations. It is mandated to look into cases of persons reported missing in the inter-communal fighting as well as in the events of July 1974 and afterwards, however, according to its terms of reference it neither attempts to attribute responsibility for the death of any missing persons nor makes findings as to the cause of such deaths. See www.cmp-cyprus.org/media/attachments/CMP/CMP%20docs/Terms_of_Reference_1981.pdf. See www.cmp-cyprus.org/media/attachments/Quick%20Statistics/Quick_Statistics_30.11.11.pdf. See S/2011/332, para. 28, and S/2011/746, para. 30. See also Security Council resolution 1986 (2011). See S/2011/332, para. 40, and S/2011/746, para. 39.