“More than 9,500 people in our region are still registered as missing,” Secretary General of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dušan Kozarev said at the 4th International Conference held within the framework of the Baku Dialogue on Missing Persons, APA reports.
“For us, this issue is not merely statistics. Behind every missing person is a family waiting for answers about the fate and whereabouts of their loved one. Sometimes this wait lasts for decades,” he said.
Dušan Kozarev noted that over the years, an institutional framework has been formed in Serbia for resolving the issue of missing persons. According to him, continuous cooperation among national institutions, international organizations, forensic experts and, most importantly, the families of missing persons is essential for achieving sustainable results.
Stating that Serbia remains committed to regional cooperation, Kozarev said that clarifying the fate of missing persons, providing answers to families, promoting reconciliation and regional stability are among the main objectives.
He also emphasized the importance of the systematic exchange and verification of information related to missing persons. The Secretary General cited the creation of a regional database on active missing persons in the former Yugoslavia as an example. According to him, this database, established within the framework of the Berlin Process with the support of the International Commission on Missing Persons, brings together the relevant institutions of the countries of the region and creates a mechanism for the exchange, verification and updating of information.
Dušan Kozarev said that cooperation in some areas has stalled in recent years due to the politicization of the process. He noted that stagnation had emerged particularly in cooperation with the relevant institutions in Croatia and Kosovo.
In his speech, the Secretary General of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also spoke about Serbian losses during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. He said that more than 1,500 Serbs from the territory of present-day Croatia alone are still registered as missing.
Kozarev said that the search continues for numerous missing persons belonging to Serbian and other non-Albanian communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in Kosovo and Metohija.
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