Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro step up cooperation in search for missing persons

Mostar, 29 August 2014 (MIA) -  Presidents Ivo Josipovic of Croatia, Tomislav Nikolic of Serbia, Filip Vujanovic of Montenegro, and Bakir Izetbegovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) signed an International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP) Declaration on Friday, undertaking to improve cooperation in the search for persons who disappeared in the 1990s wars in the former Yugoslavia, of whom 12,000 are still missing.

The ICMP's goal is to establish cooperation between states in the tracing and identification of persons gone missing during wars or as a result of human rights violations. The Declaration signed in Mostar, BiH is aimed at improving international cooperation in the search for the missing by more clearly defining the governments' role in the process, Hina reported.

Croatia is still looking for 1,628 persons whose fate cannot be cleared up without stronger cooperation in the region, which will also help with reconciliation and trust, said President Josipovic.

"The issue of missing persons is a matter of truth and justice, of a resolute fight against impunity and the enforcement of the rule of law as the only lasting foundations of sustainable peace and stability," he said at the signing ceremony.

Croatia is still waiting for answers about the missing from Serbia and BiH, he said. "This issue, unfortunately, has been a constant of Croatia-Serbia relations too long, unnecessarily burdening them and posing an obstacle to a genuine normalisation of relations. I welcome any progress in that field and any information which the Republic of Serbia is willing to provide."

Izetbegovic, Chairman of the BiH Presidency, said more than half of the 40,000 disappeared during the wars on the territory of the former Yugoslavia were from BiH. He said light had been shed on the fate of 20,000, while 8,000 are still listed as missing.

He said hiding the bodies of the missing was a new, horrible crime. "I call on everyone who has any information to cooperate with domestic and international institutions. It's a debt owed to the victims and their families who have been looking for their dearest ones for decades."

Izetbegovic said the whole world was dumbfounded at the victims of the Srebrenica genocide and the recent discovery of the largest mass grave in Tomasica near Prijedor, where the bodies of hundreds of Bosniaks and Croats were found.

The fate of the missing has been burdening relations in the region for years, President Nikolic said, adding that Serbia expected from Croatia information on 1,751 missing persons, mainly Serbs whose families fled to Serbia. "Serbia will not give up on finding the missing and prosecuting those responsible. We will do everything for the missing on our territory to be found and expect the same of others."

President Vujanovic said Montenegro jointed the initiative to step up the search for the missing as an important contribution to the improvement of relations.

The signing of today's declaration is a historic day that will be a message to other countries around the world, said ICMP Chairman Thomas Miller.

As the first signatories, you are an example to the countries of the region and the world, given that 12,000 persons in this region are still listed as missing. The Declaration is a symbolic step towards regional stability, he said.