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The ICMP got the new status after having signed an agreement in Brussels, Belgium, on December 15. The first countries to sign the agreement were: the Netherlands, Great Britain, Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg.
ICMP Director Kathryne Bomberger explained the potentials of the Agreement, saying that the Commission could not work globally and expand its activities to the whole world.
The second important thing is the fact that the International Community has accepted and recognized the issue of the missing persons as the issue of extreme importance for the whole world, said Bomberger.
The ICMP was established in 1996 with the aim of finding and identifying about 40,000 persons, who went missing on the territory of the former Yugoslavia during the war. About 30,000 people went missing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH, during the war. Seventy percent of them have been found and identified.
I think that BiH has succeeded in putting this issue on a global agenda and showing how important it is to solve it, Bomberger said at a news conference held in Sarajevo.
Jurrian Kraak, Ambassador of the Netherlands to BiH, considers that the Agreement represents an important step in the ICMPs work.
This Agreement will make all activities implemented by the ICMP easier, he said, adding that the Netherlands had supported the work of the ICMP since its establishment.
So far the ICMPs legal status has been based on agreements concluded with the Western Balkans countries, as well as international organizations, such as Interpol.
In addition to the Western Balkans countries, the ICMP has offered expert support to 27 countries since 2003. The Agreement signatories expressed hope that other countries would sign it soon.
During the press conference it was said that the new seat of the ICMP would be at The Hague, in the Netherlands, but it would continue its activities in BiH as before.
Close co-operation between the ICMP and official governmental organizations, including, of course, families of the missing persons, must continue in the same way as up to now, Kraak said.
