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Truth about missing persons important for Western Balkans EU accession process
Belgrade,
30 August 2010
Deputy Prime Minister Jovan Krkobabic stated today on 30 August the International Day of the Disappeared, that the issue of shedding light on the fate of missing persons does not just concern families of missing people or the countries which are searching for them, but also this issue is deeply related to the EU accession process of the Western Balkans.
He emphasised that this is a huge problem in the Western Balkans.
If the true facts about 14,650 missing people from all over the territory of the former Yugoslavia are not uncovered, countries in the region, even though geographically part of Europe, will still be far from it as well as the basic principles of civilisation and democracy, he underlined.
The fact that we are not looking for a needle in a haystack but an entire city underground, shows the lack of political will to return the remains of the missing to their families, be they Serbs, Croats, Albanians, Muslims, Bosniaks, Montenegrins, Hungarians or Roma, so that they may give them a proper burial, he stressed.
Serbia has responded to all demands to examine possible locations in search of missing persons and will continue to do so in the future, but it expects the same of other countries, remarked Krkobabic.
There are nearly 500 mass graves in Croatia but exhumation has not taken place for over 10 years, Krkobabic recalled, adding that the response “lack of sufficient funds” is not only unconvincing but also an explanation unacceptable for the families of the victims.
The fact that in Pristina, Zagreb and Bosnia-Herzegovina there are hundreds of exhumed but not identified bodies, shows that there is no will to completely reveal the true facts about the fate of those missing, he observed.
Of the total number of those missing, the fate of 4,418 Serbs, of these 1,756 from Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2,130 from Croatia and 532 in Kosovo-Metohija is still unknown. However, our reason for insisting that the countries in the region must address this question in cooperation with the Red Cross and the families of the missing, is to properly resolve this issue, which is a above all a human issue, noted Krkobabic.
He announced that his Cabinet and the Serbian government will support all such efforts.
Animosities must be forgotten. It is essential to have a specific procedure for resolving these problems regardless of which country is in question because this is a basic condition for accelerating the process of establishing good neighbourly relations and building mutual trust and confidence, Krkobabic concluded.
If the true facts about 14,650 missing people from all over the territory of the former Yugoslavia are not uncovered, countries in the region, even though geographically part of Europe, will still be far from it as well as the basic principles of civilisation and democracy, he underlined.
The fact that we are not looking for a needle in a haystack but an entire city underground, shows the lack of political will to return the remains of the missing to their families, be they Serbs, Croats, Albanians, Muslims, Bosniaks, Montenegrins, Hungarians or Roma, so that they may give them a proper burial, he stressed.
Serbia has responded to all demands to examine possible locations in search of missing persons and will continue to do so in the future, but it expects the same of other countries, remarked Krkobabic.
There are nearly 500 mass graves in Croatia but exhumation has not taken place for over 10 years, Krkobabic recalled, adding that the response “lack of sufficient funds” is not only unconvincing but also an explanation unacceptable for the families of the victims.
The fact that in Pristina, Zagreb and Bosnia-Herzegovina there are hundreds of exhumed but not identified bodies, shows that there is no will to completely reveal the true facts about the fate of those missing, he observed.
Of the total number of those missing, the fate of 4,418 Serbs, of these 1,756 from Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2,130 from Croatia and 532 in Kosovo-Metohija is still unknown. However, our reason for insisting that the countries in the region must address this question in cooperation with the Red Cross and the families of the missing, is to properly resolve this issue, which is a above all a human issue, noted Krkobabic.
He announced that his Cabinet and the Serbian government will support all such efforts.
Animosities must be forgotten. It is essential to have a specific procedure for resolving these problems regardless of which country is in question because this is a basic condition for accelerating the process of establishing good neighbourly relations and building mutual trust and confidence, Krkobabic concluded.
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