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.