The Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) announced the opening of the Family Viewing Facility, a place where the families of missing persons who have been identified will be able to view the remains of their loved ones. A Turkish Cypriot, a Greek Cypriot and an international member of the CMP all gave short speeches at the opening as well as Ambassador Schlicher.

More than 1,900 persons are still officially registered as missing after three or four decades, dating from the tragic events of 1963-64 and 1974. The CMP in Cyprus determines the fate of the people that went missing and exhumes and identifies the remains. An important aspect of this work is to return remains of the missing persons to their families. The new Facility, which was built with financial support of USAID through UNDP-ACT, provides a venue for this to take place. The return of remains ends a long period of uncertainty for the families and allows them to begin to heal old wounds. The hope is that this will facilitate the overall process of reconciliation between the two communities.