Kosovo Remembers the Forcibly Disappeared of the 1990s War

Kosovo on Thursday commemorated its annual Day of Forcibly Disappeared Persons with events intended to remember those who went missing during the 1998-99 war and to reiterate demands for justice.

The Youth Initiative for Human Rights Kosovo inaugurated a plaque in front of a missing persons memorial outside parliament in the capital Pristina in order to give the public more information about the two-metre-high white marble monument, which is called To Those We Miss.

Marigona Shabiu from the Youth Initiative for Human Rights Kosovo said on Thursday that "this memorial installed some years ago here in Ibrahim Rugova Square never properly identified what the memorial shows and who it is dedicated to".

The plaque gives the memorial's name in five languages used in Kosovo, including the official languages, Albanian and Serbian, as well as Turkish, Romani and English.

"The action is a critique of public institutions that do not do enough for the civilian victims of the war in Kosovo, including those who have not been found, starting from the maintenance of memorials and their installation in important, visible spaces," Shabiu said.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, parliamentary speaker Glauk Konjufca and former President Atifete Jahjaga also paid tribute at the missing persons monument in Pristina.

There are 1,621 missing persons from the Kosovo war whose remains have not yet been found. They are mainly ethnic Albanians but some are Serbs and Roma.

In a statement to mark the Day of Forcibly Disappeared Persons, the EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, explained the difficulties involved in finding the remaining missing persons.

It cited Javier Santana, deputy director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine and...