EULEX suggests Kosovo to prioritize the fate of the missing

Prishtina, April 27 – The EULEX mission, through a communique on the National Day of Missing Persons, has expressed its concern for their fate and has suggested to the authorities of Kosovo to rank this issue among the priorities.

On this day when Kosovo marks the National Day of Missing Persons, EULEX this year wants to commemorate all the missing persons as well as their family members with a special emphasis on women and young men who still they have no answers about the fate of their missing parents. EULEX continues to be committed to this important journey towards clarifying the location of missing persons in Kosovo.

"It is a soul-crushing reality when you do not know the whereabouts of a loved one. In its firm commitment to help resolve the issue of missing persons, EULEX is calling on the Albanian and Serbian communities to come forward to given blood samples for DNA analysis in order to facilitate this important process", said the Head of the EULEX Mission, Alexandra Papadopoulou.

To date, around 1650 people are still missing, and it is important that the work to find answers to their fate continues without a break. This can only be achieved with the cooperation of all relevant parties and with a high level of expertise. It must remain a high priority for the Kosovo authorities - especially at a time when they are preparing to take over very important rule of law functions from EULEX, including the field of the Institute of Forensic Medicine.

"Families need to come to terms with their painful past and the tragic losses they have suffered. This is the only way to move forward," Ms Papadopoulou said.

Since 2008, EULEX has carried out 594 field operations to identify and re-connect human remains. 506 victims have returned to their families.