BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. It's gratifying to see the development of relations between the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons of Azerbaijan and the corresponding institution in Armenia, Director General of International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) Kathryne Bomberger said at an international conference on "Modern approaches to resolving the issue of missing persons and strengthening cooperation" held in cooperation with ICMP, Trend's correspondent reports from the event.
According to her, the signing of the peace agreement by both countries on August 8, 2025, was an important event.
"During my recent meetings in Baku, I learned that a meeting was held between the prosecutor's offices of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the People's Republic of China. All these developments are very important in terms of strengthening trust and ensuring lasting peace in the region.
As for our cooperation with Azerbaijan, I would like to touch on two directions, which are the main topics of the conference - strengthening of cooperation and development of modern mechanisms for solving the problem of missing persons. In terms of cooperation, first of all, coordination within the state is of special importance. The establishment of the state commission dealing with this issue in Azerbaijan and the involvement of numerous state institutions and ministries in the process are very positive examples. Such an institutional approach is one of the most important steps that states should take in resolving the problem of missing persons because this issue covers various areas and requires close cooperation between relevant agencies.
The second important direction is the improvement of legislation. We positively assess the work carried out in Azerbaijan to modernize the existing legislation in this area. After the conflict and the occurrence of mass disappearances, most states do not have a legal framework that fully covers this problem. The results of the assessment we conducted at the invitation of Azerbaijan also show that there are opportunities for progress in this direction.
Another important direction of the cooperation is the relationship between the state commission and the families of missing persons. I believe that this is the most important area of cooperation. According to international law, states are not only obliged to investigate the fate of missing persons and determine their whereabouts. At the same time, they must also ensure the fundamental rights of the families of the missing, who are mainly women and children. These rights include the right to know the truth, access to justice, and compensation.
Therefore, it's of great importance that families actively participate in the search process and are able to exercise their rights. The third important area is interstate cooperation. In this regard, the progress observed between Azerbaijan and Armenia is encouraging. One of the main mandates of ICMP is to promote cooperation between governments. As was noted at this conference, we welcome the steps taken towards peace," she added.
