PRISTINA, May 2 /ATA/ – Kosovo and Serbia agreed on a joint Declaration on Missing Persons as Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic met Tuesday in Brussels in a new round of EU-facilitated dialogue on normalization of the ties between the two countries.
The European External Action Service published the Declaration on Missing Persons after the PM Kurti and Serbian President adopted the text of the deal on the missing persons within the timeframe 1 January 1998 – 31 December 2000.
The Declaration also includes persons forcibly disappeared, a phrase about which the Kosovo delegation insisted to be included in the document.
Under this Declaration, the two parties jointly commit to ensure full access to reliable and accurate information that helps to locate and identify the remaining Missing Persons within the timeframe 1 January 1998 – 31 December 2000 and this includes all materials, notes, orders, documents, videos, audio recordings, and any other documents including those having classified status, under the possession of institutions of both parties, relevant to this context, to make available all domestic and international documentation of significance in determining the fate of the remaining Missing Persons.
There are 1,643 people still listed as missing from the Kosovo war.
Full text of the Declaration:
Emphasizing the importance of resolving the fate of the remaining Missing Persons to bring closure to the suffering of their loved ones and to foster lasting reconciliation and peace,
Bearing in mind that this Declaration follows the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) understanding of Missing Persons, which includes persons forcibly disappeared,
Recalling that all categories of Missing Persons, will be treated with equal priority,
Acknowledging the important work done through the Working Group on Missing Persons, chaired by the ICRC,
Encouraging cooperation with other relevant actors in the field of Missing Persons, in particular International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP),
Recognising the issue of Missing Persons as a humanitarian one,
Noting the urgent need for additional efforts to alleviate the human suffering of the families,
We jointly commit
To ensure full implementation of respective commitments in the field of Missing Persons,
to closely cooperate on identifying burial sites and follow-up on the excavations,
to ensure full access to reliable and accurate information that helps to locate and identify the remaining Missing Persons within the timeframe 1 January 1998 – 31 December 2000. This includes all materials, notes, orders, documents, videos, audio recordings, and any other documents including those having classified status, under the possession of institutions of both parties, relevant to this context,
to make available all domestic and international documentation of significance in determining the fate of the remaining Missing Persons,
to use satellite data, LIDAR and other advanced technology in detecting mass graves,
to enable and encourage active engagement of families of Missing Persons in the process of identifying their fates,
to adequately ensure the rights and address the needs of the families of Missing Persons,
to establish and work together through a Joint Commission chaired by the European Union and observed by the ICRC with the aim of supporting the effort to resolve the fate of the remaining Missing Persons,
to monitor and support the work and the progress made by the Working Group on Missing Persons through the Joint Commission. In this context, the parties will review and update the Terms of Reference and General framework of the Working Group.
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