UNMIK 1st Anniversary Backgrounder - Missing and Detained Persons - 5 June 2000

Within days of the arrival of the first UNMIK officials in June, the Kosovo Albanian people put before the international community what was to remain throughout the year their most pressing issue: the determination of the fate of several thousand Kosovars who were not present to enjoy celebrations.

Demonstrations and protest councils demanding news on the fate of the missing formed immediately and continued throughout the year with several thousands blocking the streets of Pristina on 28 April. The most vocal were from Djakovica/Djakova in central Kosovo, scene of some of the most vicious fighting and now a town with an alleged 1,000-1,500 missing residents.

The International Committee for the Red Cross, which has the lead role in the issue of detained and missing persons, reports that 3,338 persons from Kosovo remain officially missing. This figure includes people from all ethnic backgrounds, among them Kosovo Serbs, estimated as several hundred, who after the end of the air war became victims of revenge.

SRSG Bernard Kouchner has embraced the cause of the missing and detained as an issue central to establishing a peaceful, democratic and forward-looking Kosovo and an obstacle to resolving inter-community tensions and therefore the return of Kosovo Serbs. Dr. Kouchner has lobbied across Europe and in New York, urging governments to press Belgrade for information and action. His proposal that a high-level Special Envoy for the Missing and Detained be named is about to be realized, and with an appointment expected in the near future.

UNMIK's work on the missing and detained began early in the mission. One of the first acts of the Kosovo Transitional Council, created by UNMIK in July 1999, was to form a sub-commission on Missing and Detained Persons. This has met twice a month throughout the year under the auspices of the KTC and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Its main quest has been information on missing and detained. A KTC working group on the missing and detained was to produce a major report on the issue this week.

The missing

To get accurate and humane information on the missing persons who are possibly dead, UNMIK established a Victims Recovery and Identification Commission (VRIC) on 30 April 2000. It is to take the lead on identifying missing persons who died during, before and after the recent conflict. The VRIC identifies human remains, issues death certificates, notifies the families, assists with appropriate burials, and also provides the families with psychological assistance. So far, the VRIC has returned the remains of 13 victims to families. However, identification of this year's exhumations will mainly be done in the autumn of 2000.

The VRIC works closely with investigators from the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), who are currently in their second season of examining the 529 known mass grave sites in Kosovo. The ICTY exhumed 195 sites last year, which yielded 2,108 bodies. This year it has set itself a formidable target of examining all the remaining 300 sites before the onset of winter 2000.

The detained

Regarding detained persons, the ICRC reports that as of 5 June 2000, 1,185 Kosovo Albanians remained in detention in Serbian prisons, with 914 having been released since June 1999. The detained include 30 people over 65, nine who are 18 years old or younger and seven women. While media and the Helsinki Committee of Sandzak, Serbia, have claimed Kosovo Albanians are also running detention centers holding Serbs, UNMIK Police and KFOR have been unable to verify such reports.

UNMIK's position has been from the beginning that all Kosovo Albanians detained during the conflict and held in other parts of Yugoslavia should be returned to Kosovo. On 10 May 2000, the Kosovo Transitional Council issued a major statement on tolerance, which began with the demand to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for the "unconditional handover" to UNMIK authorities of all Kosovo Albanians and members of other Kosovo communities held in Serbian prisons and other detention facilities, as well as information on Kosovo Albanians and members of other Kosovo communities who went missing during the past conflict.

Belgrade has not responded to this, although there has been a continuous trickle of detainees released over the past year, some as a result of court proceedings and others allegedly as a result of bribes or fines paid. Although not present in Serbia proper, UNMIK contacts non-governmental organizations to monitor trials and to be a link with families here in Kosovo.

SRSG Bernard Kouchner has stayed in close touch with the issue, as well as with the families of the missing and detained since his arrival in July 1999. On 25 May, the day after the sentencing in the Nis District Court of 143 Kosovo Albanians, he returned to Djakovica to express his outrage and to renew his commitment to securing the release of those imprisoned. UNMIK would continue to advance the cause of the missing and to reject the notion of collective guilt that seemed to have prevailed in that trial, he pledged.