Pristina, 3 May, 2023
With the adoption of the declaration for missing persons, after 24 years of denial, Serbia accepts the crime of enforced disappearance during the war in Kosovo. This is particularly important because it goes beyond the concept of missing persons, and explicitly refers to the concept of enforced disappearances.
We highlight the importance of Serbia’s agreement to open the archives, since forced disappearances during the war were crimes committed by the Serbian state, part of the genocidal project for the extermination of Albanians, “Horseshoe”.
After 24 years, Serbia for the first time agreed, through an official document, to provide full access to information, including those with classified status, that help locate and identify missing persons between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2000. , the time period in accordance with Law No. 04/L-023 for missing persons, approved by the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo in 2011.
Over 950 Albanians have been exhumed from the mass cemeteries of Batajnica, Kizhevak, Rudnica, Bajnabashte and Petrovosello, Peruçac, in Serbia. However, in these discovered mass graves, there are no memorial plaques. Therefore, with this statement, Serbia is moving towards accepting the truth.
The statement emphasizes the urgent need for additional efforts, for cooperation and non-blocking, to alleviate the human suffering of families, of this open and still unhealed wound for our country and our society.
Also, the agreement to use satellite data, LIDAR and other technologies in the detection of mass graves is very important.
This statement also emphasizes the encouragement for the active engagement of the families of missing persons in the process of identifying their fate. We remain committed to solving enforced disappearances during the war and ending the anguish of family members waiting to know the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones.
The approved declaration is the first step that necessarily requires supervision and pressure from international factors on Serbia, for the implementation of the obligations received, until the fate of more than 1600 missing persons in Kosovo is clarified.
We welcome the agreement on the operational details at the next meeting of the dialogue mediated by the EU for the normalization of relations between the Republic of Kosovo and Serbia.
We appreciate the pledge of support and cooperation through the Joint Commission chaired by the European Union and supervised by the International Red Cross (ICRC) in efforts to clarify the fate of the missing persons. Also, encouraging cooperation with other relevant actors, in particular with the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). In advance, the Government has initiated the accession of the Republic of Kosovo to this Commission (ICMP).
The Government of the Republic of Kosovo remains committed to justice for the crimes committed during the war and to the enlightenment of the truth.
Last modified: May 4, 2023