What's new in the Declaration of Extinction?

This is Bekim Blakaj's findings from the Kosovo Humanitarian Law Fund and Sonja Biserkos from the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. They underline that this is the first time both sides commit to allowing access to “sensitive documents” to shed light on the fate of missing persons during the Kosovo war.

Over 1,600 people are still considered missing from the recent war in Kosovo.
In the Declaration, among other things, it is said to be given full access to all materials, notes, orders, documents, videos, audio recordings and all other documents, including those with the status “confiential” and which are in possession of the institutions of Kosovo and Serbia.

Blakaj and Biserko stress that the Declaration for Missing Persons this time is the strongest “” because it is part of the agreement to normalise relations on the basis of the EU proposal and that there will be consequences if the parties do not respect it.

The agreement on normalisation of relations, which the two sides agreed to in late February, and Anex for its implementation from March, has been included in the Kosovo and Serbia negotiating framework in the process of European integrations.

Thus, both sides agreed that any “non-fulfillment of obligations from the agreement or Anex will have negative direct consequences”.

What is meant by confidential documents?

The Declaration's text does not specifically mention the opening of military or police archives, but Bekim Blakaj points out that the word “confidential documents” exists and expresses confidence that such documents will solve a large number of missing persons' cases.

Sonja Biserko also stresses that the term “confidential documents” refers to archives of military or police authorities, and adds that the data from those archives would be of great help in lighting up the fate of undiscovered persons after two decades.

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vuciq, in a media statement on 2 May, said he is ready to open all archives that could lead to the discovery of missing persons, stressing that he expects the same from Kosovo authorities.

“Do not be angry, the same thing we ask for Serbs who were killed in Kosovo and Metohija”, he said.

In Kosovo, important war documents are not known, though the issue of opening military archives on both sides has been raised within dialogue since September 2021. At the time, Besnik Bislimi, deputy prime minister of Kosovo and chief of the Kosovo delegation for dialogue with Serbia, said the parties would open archives, including those “dealing with the Kosovo Liberation Army”.

Also, on September 13th, 2021, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti told reporters that there is evidence and materials of the Kosovo Liberation Army in the Central Archives. However, this institution denied that.

Is there a real will to open the archives?

Even though politicians from both sides claim that institutions will be transparent ʹ that they have filed with the Declaration of Ungenerous Persons { Bekim Blakaj and Sonja Biserko stress that “will not be so easy”.

“I don't believe that the parties will make documentation available so easily, but there is still hope that implementation will be monitored by the European Community or the European Union. If they estimate that the parties do not implement the agreement, they may face sanctions”, it estimates in a pronomation for Radio Free Europe.

Biserko emphasises that Serbian Army and Police archives so far have remained non-pretentious “in war crimes cases, so it is sceptical that it will now be opened due to the issue of missing persons.

“If Serbia were to open those archives, it would have to face the fact that it is responsible for many things that have happened in Kosovo, because it is done under the umbrella of the army, police and different communities”, it says.

Misconception of the Declaration of Extinction?

Bekim Blakaj from the Fund for Humanitarian Law stresses that it is important for the opinion to understand that the Declaration of Missing Persons in no way refers to war crimes.

With this statement we cannot connect other things, such as processing war crimes, reparations and so on”, Blakaj says.

Sonja Biserko, on the other hand, estimates that the Declaration of Missing Persons has been completely thrown aside, and that the focus was mainly on the Association of Serb majority municipalities.

“However, I say pressure from the international community will be stronger, more frequent and more real this time than it was in previous years”, she estimates.

What do the missing people's associations say?

Ahmet Gajchev, chairman of the Co-ordination Council of Associations of Families of Undiscovered Persons in Kosovo, expresses sceptical about the Declaration of Missing Persons.

He tells Radio Free Europe that this statement has some shortcomings, among which there is an inaccurate time for the dawning of the fate of missing persons.

If these (environmental research) continue for 24 years, it is a serious concern for family members. We know that family members of missing persons live in stress and trauma for 24 years now to know their destiny. But if Serbia adheres to the declaration as a good co-operative, I hope that soon there may be solutions, because Serbia very well knows where the mass cemetery is and where our people are”, Gajchev declares.

He adds that in the future round of dialogue, when reconciliation is expected to be reached for operational details for the implementation of the Declaration of Extinction, “will be sealed” if the parties have really agreed to whiteen the fate of missing persons.

Co-ordinator of the Association of Family Members of the Kidnapped and Ungenerated in Kosovo, Silvana Marinkovic, thinks the adopted Declaration will not help shed light on the fate of the missing, because for “nothing new has agreed to”.

According to her, almost all points in the Declaration were previously reconciled and had to be implemented by the working groups within the Government of Kosovo and Serbia.

We expected the job to actually start, which agreed to concrete steps. All of this has been agreed on before, but are not respected. I also expected that at least one member (from Serb and Albanian families of the missing) will be present at the meeting when it has been discussed about missing persons”, Marinkovic tells REL.

The issue of the dead through previous agreements and co-operation

The joint task force for the missing persons was founded in 2004, under the auspices of the UN Secretary General (OKB)'s special representative for Kosovo.

However, the commissions for missing persons of the Government of Kosovo and Serbia have accused each other mostly in recent years, and there has been no concrete co-operation within the common working group on the ground.

Also, the issue of undiscovered persons has been raised under dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia in 2020, but besides “the harmonisation of positions” on that issue, there has been no concrete progress.

During the Kosovo war in 1998-1999 about 13,000 people from all ethnic communities were killed, over 800,000 were displaced and around 1,600 are missing.

Hundreds of Kosovo Albanian dead bodies have been found at mass cemetery in Serbia. So far, about 1,000 mortor remains have been returned from Serbia to Kosovo.