Prishtina, 29 July 2026
Dear citizens,
Dear journalists,
Honourable Director of the Institute of Crimes Committed During the War in Kosovo, Atdhe Hetemi,
Today, we are gathered here to present a very sensitive and highly important report. The commitment to compiling this report reaffirms one of the fundamental principles of international law and of every democratic society: that there can be no justice without truth, no healing without justice, and no sustainability without remembrance.
This report is an institutional testimony to the high price of freedom that we enjoy together. The report represents people, lives, families and histories, which cannot be reduced to numbers, but which our state has an obligation to document with accuracy, dignity and responsibility.
A total of 12,230 war victims in Kosovo were documented for the period from 1 January 1998 to 20 June 1999.
Each number speaks to our loved ones who were killed, the families that were destroyed, and the absence and longing that we continue to feel to this very day.
The weight of crimes committed against children is particularly heavy. The report documents that in the age group from 0 to 17 years old there are:
- 1,047 children killed;
- 94 who died as a result of war conditions; while
- the fate and whereabouts of 100 forcibly disappeared children remain unknown.
The killing of more than one thousand children, beyond being a tragic statistic, is a deep wound of our society. It is a permanent accusation against the brutality of war and an obligation for our state to ensure that the truth is documented, justice is pursued and remembrance is preserved.
The data also demonstrate the extraordinary intensity of violence, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide during the spring of 1999.
That year, 9,948 people were killed, accounting for approximately 81.3% of all victims documented in this report, with the overall number being 12,230.
This fact speaks for itself. It bears witness to the horror experienced by the civilian population during the peak phase of the war. These figures, these loved ones who were killed, oblige us to keep remembrance alive and strong, while justice must remain an uninterrupted demand.
Dear attendees,
This first institutional list is the result of the Institute’s work to fulfil its responsibility towards war victims, their families and the history of the country.
For more than a quarter of a century, the documentation of war victims has been carried out by various institutions, local and international organisations, researchers and individuals. Each of them has made an important contribution to preserving facts and documenting the war. The Government of the Republic of Kosovo values this work.
The Institute was established precisely on this basis. Not to replace what others have done over the years, but to verify and institutionalise it.
The report published today also presents the methodology upon which this list has been built and explains the process of collecting, verifying and validating the data.
The list is preliminary, meaning that the work is not considered complete. It means that the Institute will continue updating it whenever new documents or evidence are secured. This is the only way to build a database that is institutional, that withstands the passage of time and serves the generations that will come after us.
Therefore, I wish to call upon the families of victims, public institutions, organisations and every citizen who possesses relevant documents or information to cooperate with the Institute. Every new piece of information will be treated with seriousness and according to the same professional methodology.
Because without documentation there is no remembrance. Without remembrance there is no justice. And without justice there can be no lasting peace.
Dear attendees,
Even today, more than a quarter of a century after the war, the wounds remain open.
Yesterday, in the village of Kalluder in the Municipality of Zubin Potok, excavations began at a location suspected to contain a mass grave. Kosovo Police and the Institute of Forensic Medicine teams are engaged in the field, with the support of EULEX. This fact reminds us that for many families, the war has not ended, as long as their most loved ones have still not been found. For hundreds of families, the wait continues. For them, every excavation is hope. Every identification is a step towards the truth and towards justice.
While these excavations are the result of the work of our institutions, Serbia’s failure to implement the Brussels Declaration on Missing Persons, agreed on 2 May 2023, namely its refusal to open military archives, is evidence that the neighbouring state continues to evade responsibility for the crimes committed in our country during the last war.
Therefore, we reiterate the call to international actors to increase pressure on Serbia so that, among other things, the decision on the 30-year classification period until 2044 is changed and the archives of the 37th Motorised Brigade of the Yugoslav Army are opened, in order to obtain information that would clarify the fate of forcibly disappeared persons.
The Republic of Kosovo continues to walk on the path of truth and justice. Because secure states are built upon facts, upon respect for human dignity, upon the rule of law and upon institutional responsibility.
This list is part of this commitment. It is dedicated to the families who have waited for decades. It is dedicated to the survivors who have lived with pain. It is dedicated to the younger generations who deserve to know history based on facts.
Today and every day, we bow with respect before each victim. We reaffirm the commitment of the Republic of Kosovo that the truth will not remain undiscovered, and that the great sacrifice of our people will not fade into oblivion.
Glory to all those who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of Kosovo!
May their memory live forever!
Thank you for your attention and participation.