Serbia: Cooperation lacking in search for missing from 1990s wars

Veljko Odalović, president of the Serbian government commission for missing persons, expressed significant dissatisfaction with the pace of resolving cases from the 1990s wars, reporting that only 80 cases were closed in the region last year, with eight of those being domestic.

Odalović highlighted inadequate cooperation from Croatian and Kosovo authorities as the primary challenge. He stated that colleagues from Croatia do not respond to meeting invitations, and no fieldwork has been conducted in Croatia or Kosovo for six to seven years. In contrast, cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina was described as adequate.

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Colleagues from Croatia do not respond to our meeting invitations. We haven't had any fieldwork for six or seven years, neither in Croatia nor in Kosovo and Metohija.

Domestically, Serbia's Law on Missing Persons has not been enacted due to issues reconciling with the Ministry of Finance. Odalović indicated that this matter could only be revisited after elections, with a new parliamentary assembly.

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The proposed amount of fair compensation and the method of its payment are, to put it mildly, humiliating for the families of the missing.

Mirjana Miodrag Božin, president of the Coordination of Serbian Associations of Families of the Missing, called for international pressure on regional authorities to adhere to agreements and protocols for resolving missing persons cases. She noted that the proposed law, which her organization helped draft, failed to pass because proposals from the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Finance were unsatisfactory. Miodrag Božin described the proposed compensation for families as "humiliating."

Ljubomir Miladinović, Secretary General of the Red Cross of Serbia, stated that the organization provides logistical, humanitarian, and psycho-social support for over 1,000 cases. He urged families who have not yet done so to initiate missing person requests and provide blood samples for DNA analysis, emphasizing that DNA data is crucial for identification and for families to receive final answers.

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We call on all families who have not yet done so to initiate a request for searching and to provide blood for DNA analysis. Without DNA data, there is no successful identification, and without identification, families cannot get a final answer.