Legal principles and mechanism in relation to missing persons in SFRY and AP KiM

Abstract

Resolving the issue of missing persons in the former SFRY, including cases of disappearances and abductions in Kosovo and Metohia, is an important humanitarian and political issue. The process of reconciliation is based on the building of multiethnic societies democracy, the rule of law and tolerance in the region largely depend on solving this complex problem. At the same time, it is the obligation of the competent authorities towards the families of missing persons who have the right to know the truth about the fate of their loved ones. As the solution of the problem of missing persons should be approached primarily as humanitarian law, it was noticed that from the very beginning of this process there is a high degree of politicization. Although the need to find out the truth about the fate of persons who disappeared during the armed conflicts is expressed primarily among their family members, and then sporadically appears on the agenda of meetings of statesmen in the region, in reality there are real obstacles to the search for missing persons. These obstacles range from insufficient capacity of state bodies involved in the search for missing persons, insufficient financial resources, to a lack of political will to improve regional cooperation and a determination to make the search for missing persons more efficient. As a consequence of the described situation, it is evident that the process is slowing down and giving priority to activities on the ethnic rather than humanitarian principle, which would enable this problem to be solved to approximately the same scope and dynamics in the entire region. Also, an insufficient degree of cooperation and openness in the exchange of information between participants in the process and cooperation for the necessary planning and synchronization of activities and the most precise determination of the dynamics in the process of exhumations and identifications in the region was noticed. Therefore, the denial of information on abductees and missing persons was characterized as a gross violation of the human rights of their family members. On the other hand, there remains an obligation that all perpetrators of crimes such as kidnappings and other acts of violence against civilians must be brought to justice in accordance with international norms and applicable domestic law. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to show the importance of consistent application of international legal frameworks in the protection of the rights of missing persons and their families, with special reference to the relationship between international and national legal framework for clarifying the fate of missing persons.