Kosovo leaders have expressed support for the plight of families of missing persons on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.
President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci said that determining the fate of missing persons was vital to Kosovo.
“On this international day we call on international institutions to do more towards resolving the fate of our missing persons. There can be no peace without revealing the truth concerning their fate and without perpetrators facing justice. We will not stop until every last missing person in Kosovo is accounted for! Neither we nor the international community can allow for the Serb genocide in Kosovo to be forgotten or remain unpunished”, he said.
Outgoing Prime Minister and leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Ramush Haradinaj said that missing persons are Kosovo’s “biggest wound”.
“Today in their honour I took part in the solidarity march and paid tribute to the memorial of missing persons on the International Day of the Disappeared. It is our state duty to work every day, effortlessly, to resolve their fate. Kosovo does not forget!”
Former Assembly Speaker and leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Kadri Veseli expressed support for the families of missing persons who he said have been living in anxiety for more than two decades from not knowing what has happened to their loved ones.
“On this occasion I reiterate call to international mechanisms and the European Union to put pressure on Belgrade to shed light to the fate of missing persons in Kosovo and bring perpetrators before justice,” Veseli wrote.
Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti along with a group of party officials paid tribute to missing persons.
“Since the end of the recent war in Kosovo, the fate of 1,652 missing persons is still being kept hostage in dark offices of the Serbian state. Their families still seek the truth and justice for them. The fate of missing persons is closely linked to our fate, not seeking justice for them means eradicate yourself from justice. Peace, future and development can never fill out the void of their absence. Concern about the missing persons teaches us that peace in life is only brought by justice,” he wrote on Facebook.
