On the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) and Head of UNMIK, Zahir Tanin, reaffirms UNMIK’s commitment to continue supporting the process of enlightening the fate of persons who are still missing in Kosovo and their families.

In this process, SRSG Tanin underscores that the right of families of missing persons to the truth about the fate of their loved ones is a fundamental human right, the realization of which is a crucial element of trust-building and reconciliation between communities in Kosovo. In this regard, he welcomes ongoing discussions on the issue of missing persons in the context of the EU-facilitated dialogue. SRSG Tanin also commends the work all of parties involved in searching for missing persons in Kosovo, including by the Working Group on persons who are unaccounted in connection with events in Kosovo that is chaired by the International Committee of the Red Cross. He further calls on all actors to redouble their efforts to clarify what happened to the 1,643 persons who are still unaccounted for.

“UNMIK remains fully committed to supporting all efforts to make significant progress in the search for missing persons and allow the families to find some measure of closure about the fate of their loved ones,” SRSG Tanin said.

Background:

of August 2020, there are 1643 persons still unaccounted for in connection with the events in Kosovo in 1998 – 1999. UNMIK continues supporting families through the Missing Persons Resource Centre it helped establish in 2017 and the process of enlightening the fate of missing persons in Kosovo, including through close interactions with the International Committee of the Red Cross and by supporting the Working Group on Missing Persons with the provision of a ground-penetrating radar in 2018 to 2019 that enables it to conduct more accurate and less invasive searches of mass grave sites. In June 2020, UNMIK provided technical support to the Belgrade and Pristina delegations to the Working Group through the ICRC to enhance capacities of their analytical team to search for missing persons.

Read more about UNMIK’s support for the families of missing persons here.

Read the statement by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances here.

Read more about the work of the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances to clarify the fate of missing persons around the world here.

Read more about the Security Council adopting the first-ever resolution on persons reported missing during armed conflict here.

See the text of the UN Security Council Resolution 2474 (2019) here.