Kosovo urges EU to pressure Serbia on missing persons

Kosovo's chief negotiator in the dialogue with Belgrade, Agron Bajrami, has again appealed to the European Union to pressure Serbia on the issue of missing persons. He wrote to EU Special Envoy Peter Sorensen, expressing "serious concern over recent developments regarding missing persons from the 1998-1999 war."

Bajrami specifically requested that the EU ensure Serbia fully implements its obligations under the Declaration on Missing Persons. This includes granting unrestricted access to archives and protecting individuals who provide information. "Families have waited too long for the truth," Bajrami stated.

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We have requested the EU to ensure that Serbia fully implements its obligations from the Declaration on Missing Persons, including unrestricted access to archives and protection for those who provide information. Families have waited too long for the truth.

This marks the second time in less than a month that Bajrami has formally addressed the EU mediator. In mid-July, he contacted Sorensen regarding a statement by Serbian Minister Snežana Paunović, which he deemed a violation of the 2023 agreement on the path to normalization and detrimental to the EU-led dialogue. At that time, Bajrami highlighted the minister's "alarming statement openly advocating for the ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Kosovo," asserting that such rhetoric severely damages trust and the normalization process.

The issue of missing persons has resurfaced following recent exhumations at Jabuka and Mala Kaludra near Zubin Potok. Mutual accusations between Belgrade and Pristina regarding war crimes, archive access, and the fate of the missing have intensified. Three years ago, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti adopted the Declaration on Missing Persons, obligating both sides to cooperate in locating and identifying hundreds still unaccounted for. While a working group meeting was agreed upon for June 26 in Geneva, details on whether it occurred remain unclear. Reports indicate that Serbia previously refused to participate in three EU-convened meetings on the matter.

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I have conveyed to Sorensen our serious concern over recent developments regarding missing persons from the 1998-1999 war.