From 7 to 11 November 2016 Geneva Peace Week will bring Geneva’s contribution to sustaining peace into the light. By synchronizing meetings on different topics related to the promotion of peace, Geneva Peace Week maximizes synergies between organizations in Geneva whose work focuses on the cross-cutting nature of peace. 

The picture above features one of over 50 events of Geneva Peace Week. With photographs by renowned photojournalist Nick Danziger and texts by award winning author Rory MacLean, the exhibition “Beneath the Carob Trees: The Lost Lives of Cyprus” depicts the efforts undertaken since 1981 by the Committee on Missing Persons’ (CMP) scientists to locate, exhume, identify and return to their families the remains of persons who went missing during the events of 1963-4 and 1974. 

In Cyprus, out of 2,001 missing persons that both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, have agreed to include on the official list, with the help of the United Nations, half have been recovered and to date nearly 700 individuals have been identified and returned to their families for a dignified burial.

The CMP Anthropological Laboratory, anthropologists piece together individual bones to establish the age, sex and height of a missing person. The more complete a skeleton,the easier becomes analysis and identification. ‘It is a human right never to lose one’s identity even after death,’ said CMP anthropologist Theodora Eleftheriou ‘I want people to know of the importance of this work. “Beneath the Carob Trees: The Lost Lives of Cyprus” will be inaugurated on 10 November at the Palais des Nations. The body of work has led to a book under the same name published by Armida Books (English and Greek versions) and Galeri Kültür Yayınları (Turkish version). 

The Geneva Peace Week is a collective impact initiative facilitated by the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studie and the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform with the support of Switzerland. Browse the programme.