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Kosova

Kosovo demands from Kaja Kallas concrete steps to force Serbia to open state archives for missing persons from the war

Politiko 2025-02-17 19:48:35

Kosovo demands from Kaja Kallas concrete steps to force Serbia to open state

The Chairman of the Kosovo Government Commission for Missing Persons, Andin Hoti, has sent a letter to the European Union's chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, requesting concrete steps from her and the European bloc to force Serbia to cooperate and open its state archives, including military, police and intelligence, to understand the whereabouts of the missing from the last war in Kosovo, in 1998/99.

In a Facebook post, Hoti announced that the Kosovo delegation, in addition to opening the archives, has also requested full cooperation in “exposing the role of Serbian paramilitary forces and collaborators, who, with the support of the [Slobodan] Milosevic regime, executed and disappeared thousands of Albanians,” as well as “accountability for Serbia’s continued refusal to provide information on known mass graves within its territory.” Hoti made this request to Kallas on the day of the 17th anniversary of Kosovo’s independence.

"Our independence was achieved with great sacrifices and we cannot allow the victims of genocide to be forgotten or the families' right to know the truth to be denied. Serbia continues to deny its responsibility and sabotage efforts for justice, refusing to disclose data on the whereabouts of the missing," Hoti said, among other things.

Even in ceremonies held during the day by senior state leaders, including Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti, "all those who sacrificed and were sacrificed" for freedom were honored.

A meeting of the Joint Kosovo-Serbia Commission on Missing Persons was scheduled for January 15 of this year, but it failed due to Serbia's refusal to participate, as a sign of protest after an action by the Kosovo Government to close Serbian institutions.

The Joint Kosovo-Serbia Commission on Missing Persons was established based on an agreement reached last year within the framework of the dialogue for the normalization of relations between the two countries, mediated by the European Union, for the implementation of the Declaration on Missing Persons.

According to the Red Cross, there are still 1,612 people missing from the war in Kosovo. The formation of the Commission was preceded by the agreement reached by the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia in 2023 on the Joint Declaration on Missing Persons.

Some of the commitments made in the declaration include: In practice, not a single point of the declaration has been implemented, despite calls from the European bloc.

Kosovo and Serbia have been in dialogue since 2011 and have reached a number of other agreements, but not all of them have been implemented. The European Union often reminds both sides that progress in the dialogue process is linked to their path to Euro-Atlantic integration./ REL