Georgia, Tbilisi, Dec. 10 / Trend N. Kirtskhalia /
A Georgian-Abkhazian meeting was held on Dec. 9 as part of the recently formed coordination group, which creates mechanisms to search for individuals who went missing during the 1992-1993 conflict. The group works under the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The meeting was held in the ICRC's office in Kiev.
"The meeting was constructive," George Drdanski, the ICRC's Eastern European coordinator, told Trend. "All participants expressed a willingness to participate in resolving this sensitive humanitarian problem."
He added that roughly 2,000 people are still considered missing.
"Their families still do not know what happened to them after 18 years," he said. "To know nothing about your father, son, or husband is hard. These people are unable to mourn for them or to continue on hoping. This meeting is the first move that has been taken to get specific answers. We hope to make significant progress in this direction."
The meeting participants also agreed to establish a joint working group that will meet regularly and resolve specific issues.
The ICRC welcomes the initiative and encourages participants to make every effort to ascertain the fate of individuals who went missing during the conflict and to provide relevant information to their families. According to international humanitarian law, families have the right to know about their missing relatives.
The ICRC organized the meeting as a neutral mediator. The organization has promoted the exchange of information between the parties for many years.