UNMIK ON AIR

MISSING PERSONS IN KOSOVO

040203

(By Zoran Culafic)

Hello and welcome to this edition of UNMIK on Air with Martin Redi and Luan Qorraj.

According to the latest figures released this week by the UNMIK Office of Missing Persons and Forensics (OMPF), 4.233 people are still unaccounted for since the war. 3.324 of the missing are K-Albanians and 909 other non-Albanians.

OMPF head Jose Pablo Baraybar emphasizes that the issue of missing persons is still extremely sensitive, and, unfortunately, there is very little hope that anyone will be found alive.

Baraybar estimates that by the end of this year the exhumations of all remaining, previously known gravesites in Kosovo will be completed. He hopes the exhumations will produce between 500-700 bodies that were recovered this year in Kosovo.

According to official figures over 2.000 bodies have been identified so far, but the remaining cases will take more time.

Jose Pablo Baraybar: Since 1999 and considering the information provided by the Tribunal, by OSCE and by us, 4.019 bodies of victims of the conflict were recovered, and approximately 2.212 bodies have been identified since then.

Jose Pablo Baraybar says the problem is monumental. The difficulty in identifying the remains is an ongoing process.

Jose Pablo Baraybar: The problem is the following; I think there is enough room for everybody to just help out in this process. If we got over 4.000 people missing, even if we were to identify, say, 200 people a month, you’re still talking about a number of years … a couple of years in this effort. I mean, this effort can’t be resolved from one day to a next.

Mr. Baraybar explains that UNMIK is not alone in this process. Several other institutions and organizations, in cooperation with the family members of the missing, are searching for answers as well.

Jose Pablo Baraybar: I don’t think that UNMIK has a capacity to do so, I don’t think that ICMP has a capacity to do that alone either, I think that everybody has to work together. So, we have to work with as many elements as we can, in order to resolve the problem. All of us should be just investing as much as possible in this process, because the only one who’s loosing in this, are the families.

He added that recently there has been some confusing information and messages sent out by the media to the waiting family members.

Jose Pablo Baraybar: The families are waiting for long time to get answers. Now, if the families now, what they read, what they see as airing of dirty laundry between organizations, in public, I think that has just a very negative effect on those precise international organizations. Because you can see that we can’t agree in most elementary things. And they are in the middle. I think that all of us will be loosing, but the first one to loose will be them.

Baraybar stressed that cooperation between Pristina and Belgrade officials in the field of missing persons exists, but that it could be improved.

Jose Pablo Baraybar: We have at the moment a good working relationship with both authorities. This week there will be a number of meetings, including a meeting with the Governmental Commission for Missing Persons we have a meeting with Coordination center in Belgrade, so I think the cooperation in general terms is sort of working, but we need to invest much more efforts to make it work smoothly.

And he underlined that the issue of the missing should be completely de-politicized, and that there is no room for any competition between various organizations and institutions.

Jose Pablo Baraybar: These are number of issues sometimes become politicized, and they should be de-politicized. I think the whole issue of missing should be completely de-politicized, because the families never ask for that to be drawn into this.

The Office of Missing Persons and Forensics is planning to increase the number of exhibitions of clothing and personal effects throughout Kosovo, in order to trigger further identifications. They also hope to install a phone “hot-line” to encourage people to anonymously provide information regarding the whereabouts of missing persons.

And with that we have reached the end of today’s program. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more.