The Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) has the pleasure to announce the launch of a book, titled Beneath the Carob Trees: The Lost Lives of Cyprus, which documents the work undertaken by the Committee. Written by acclaimed Canadian author Rory MacLean with photographs by award winning British photographer Nick Danziger, the book is published in Greek, Turkish and English versions and is jointly distributed by two Cypriot publishing houses, Armida Publications and Galeri Kültür Yayınları. The CMP would like to thank the European Union for providing the funding and UNDP for assisting in the production of this book. 

Since 1981, the Committee on Missing Persons has worked to tackle an enduring humanitarian tragedy in Cyprus. Over the last decade, it has undertaken more than a thousand excavations and exhumations across the island, recovering and identifying the men, women, and children who went missing forty or fifty years ago, and returning their remains to their families. This extraordinary bi-communal work has been carried out by a new generation of Cypriots determined to heal the wounds left open by their fathers and grandfathers. Beneath the Carob Trees portrays the work and lives of 16 of the CMP’s young scientists and pays tribute to all those who labour to end the suffering of the bereaved and to support reconciliation between the communities.

An exhibition photographs from the book was opened by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York on 31 May. On 11 October, the exhibition will be opened at the European Parliament in Brussels by Martin Schulz President of the European Parliament and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission. On 10 November, the exhibition will go on show at the United Nations European Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland under the patronage of the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer and the Director General of the UN in Geneva, Michael Møller.

In 2017, the photo-exhibition will be on show in cities across Cyprus.