Today marks the International Day of the Disappeared. More than 26 years after the end of the war in Kosovo, around 1,600 people are still officially listed as missing.
To commemorate this day, the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo will inaugurate the memorial “Tree of Lives” tonight at 20:00 on the plateau above the underground parking at George Bush Square in Pristina.
In addition, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR KS) will mark the day with an event where the names of missing persons from the last war in Kosovo will be read aloud.
Yesterday, Kosovo’s top leaders – President Vjosa Osmani, Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti, and Speaker of Parliament Dimal Basha – paid tribute at the Monument to the Missing Persons, marking the International Day of Enforced Disappearances.
President Vjosa Osmani strongly condemned Serbia:
“Beyond the crimes committed in 1998–1999 by Serbia, the enforced disappearance of loved ones is a crime Serbia commits every day by keeping them in mass graves and by not respecting the Brussels agreements to uncover their fate.”
Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti stated that Kosovo’s institutions are working with full dedication to locate the missing:
“Just in the past year, we investigated over 23 different locations, and this year alone we have carried out 18 search operations to uncover the mortal remains of our loved ones.”
Meanwhile, Speaker of Parliament Dimal Basha emphasized the urgent need for justice:
“This is both a moral and international obligation for Serbia to reveal as soon as possible the locations of massacres and the fate of the missing.”
Currently, around 1,600 people remain missing in Kosovo, and their fate is still unknown.
