British Ambassador to Pristina Ruairí O'Connell believes that the decision of the Serb political representatives to "freeze" their participation in the Government and the Assembly of Kosovo was a mistake, stressing that boycott as a political tool never gave results.
British Ambassador in Kosovo Ruairí O'Connell, visiting the show 'Dogovor' on RTV Kim, said that the Serbian list should consider return to the institutions.
In a meeting with the head of mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kosovo, Agim Gashi, President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci, praised the organization for its role in determining the fate of missing persons. Thaci said he appreciated the ICRC’s commitment for each missing person equally, regardless of their ethnic background. He also pledged to continue supporting the work of the ICRC, especially in the issue of missing persons.
Unknown persons for the fifth time had taken the memorial of the missing Serbian journalits, which was located on the road Velika Hoca - Zočište.
The Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) and Association of Journalists of Kosovo and Metohija (DNKiM) strongly condemns again the demolition of the memorial and seek from the international and the Kosovo institutions to find perpetrators of this vandalism.
Kosovo government approved today the decision to allocate 20 thousand Euros to support the project of the Coordinating Council of Family Associations of the Missing Persons in Kosovo for the rehabilitation of the families of missing persons. Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister, Hajredin Kuci, said this amount of money is intended for different activities for family members of missing persons, including spa treatments for their rehabilitation.
On the occasion of the announced visit of David Schwendiman to Belgrade, the Association of Families of the Kidnapped and Murdered in Kosovo invites him to visit the memorial room "Victims of Kosmet".
The Association addressed this invitation in order for the international prosecutor David Schwendiman could see over 2,500 photos of the kidnapped and murdered Serbs, Roma, Gorani, Muslims and Albanians.
President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, met today the chairman of the Kosovo Government’s Commission for Missing Persons, Prenk Gjetaj, and discussed the closing of the chapter on missing persons and the upcoming steps that need to be taken. In a press release issued by Thaci’s office, he is quoted as saying that the issue of the missing persons is humanitarian and that “politics in Serbia should be part of the solution not an obstacle”.
At this moment, 1 644 persons are missing from the conflict in Kosovo, throughout the region, 10 753 of missing persons. Searching for missing persons is in serious deadlock and there are no quality activities, said President of the Commission for Missing Persons Veljko Odalović.
Organisations that monitor war crimes cases and the families of missing persons in Kosovo said they were surprised by a recent statement by Kosovo’s Minister for Dialogue, Edita Tahiri. The latter told members of a parliamentary committee on Monday that the issue of missing persons is not being discussed in Brussels because the European Union has asked for the lists of missing persons and that neither Pristina nor Belgrade provided such lists.
Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection today on the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared recalls that 20 years after the end of conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia and 15 years after the end of the conflict in Kosovo and Metohija there are no reliable information about the fate of nearly 11,000 people from the former Yugoslavia.
“The missing remain one of the gravest wounds which the war in Kosovo has left behind, whereas the resolving of the fate of the missing is one of the most urgent and most important tasks of all,” Kosovo President, Hashim Thaci, said on the eve of the International Day of Missing Persons, August 30th.