The commission in The Hague is handling 15 samples suspected of belonging to those missing during the war.

Since December, the laboratories of the International Commission on Missing Persons in The Hague have been processing 15 samples of skeletal remains, suspected to belong to persons who disappeared during the recent war in Kosovo. The commission announced that during 2025, 58 post-mortem samples from human remains and 172 reference DNA samples collected from family members of missing persons were received and processed.

The laboratories of the International Commission on Missing Persons, located in The Hague, are processing 15 bone samples suspected of belonging to persons who disappeared during the 1998-1999 war.

Most of them were submitted this year by the Government Commission on Missing Persons, while one was submitted last year.

In a written response to KOHA, this commission announced that during 2025, 58 post-mortem samples from human remains and 172 DNA reference samples collected from family members of missing persons were received and processed.

"This process resulted in 54 DNA match reports, which ICMP submitted to the Government Commission on Missing Persons to support the identification process," the response from the International Commission on Missing Persons states.

The commission said there is no set timeframe within which results can be obtained for samples being processed. Based on the response, the process may take longer when the DNA in skeletal remains is severely degraded due to the passage of time and environmental conditions.

"In such cases, multiple tests may be required to provide a usable DNA profile, and it may be necessary to take additional samples or re-examine previously tested samples," the commission's response states.

According to the Hague-based Commission, processing of samples takes longer when the remains consist of partial or mixed body parts exhumed from graves, and DNA testing is required on several bones to accurately re-associate skeletal elements belonging to the same individual.

"If there are not enough DNA reference samples from relatives to support a reliable match, it may be necessary to locate other family members and ask them to provide samples. In some cases, families of missing persons refuse to provide reference samples and therefore a match cannot be made," the International Commission on Missing Persons' response states.

There are also around 1.600 missing persons in Kosovo, who were forcibly disappeared during the war of about three decades ago. Kosovo authorities are conducting searches in several locations.

Among the latest samples that the Institute of Forensic Medicine has forwarded to The Hague are the skeletal remains of at least three individuals, suspected of belonging to victims of the last war, found during excavations that began last December in Pržina, Rahovec.

The excavation process is still ongoing at this location, as authorities believe that the remains of at least eight other war victims may also be found there.