RIGHTS-BOSNIA: Lost Between Dead and Alive

By Apostolis Fotiadis Reprint | | Print |

Apostolis Fotiadis

SARAJEVO, Apr 10 2008 (IPS) - “I’m still searching for my son, I don’t know where he is, or how he was killed,” says Kada Hotic. She does not believe he is still alive. “It is important for me to find his remains, and that he is buried with the dignity of a human being.

“I want to be able to visit his grave, and pray for his soul, and find my peace before I die,” Hotic, a member of the Mothers Movement of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves told IPS.

Wars leading to dissolution of former Yugoslavia left thousands dead. Many who survived were broken by violence and loss, but they have struggled on to rebuild their lives. But for the families of missing persons it has been much harder to leave memories behind.

Almost 40,000 persons went missing in the wars in former Yugoslavia, around 30,000 of them in Bosnia and Herzegovina during 1992-1995.

Bosnia has inevitably become a focal point for locating body remains and identifying missing individuals.

“It helps families come together and cope with the wound of losing their family members by giving them a dignified burial,” Jasmin Agovic from the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) which has led this attempt since 1996 told IPS. “We should not underestimate how culturally important this is in this part of the world.

“On the other hand, searching for missing persons is not restricted to identification but extends to researching information resulting in mass graves excavation and gathering of criminal evidence which then is used for bringing perpetrators to the courts. It plays a crucial role in achieving justice.”

ICMP’s main laboratory is based in Sarajevo, where DNA extraction and genetic profiling from samples of mortal remains, and blood reference or buccal swab samples is carried out.

Since the ICMP’s DNA labs went online in November 2001, ICMP has helped identify 11,230 missing persons in Bosnia, 5,340 of them missing since the 1995 massacre of Muslim Bosnians in Srebrenica by Bosnian Serbs. More then 12,000 persons are still missing.

The ICMP has an annual budget of 6.5 Million euros for 2008. It is mostly founded by donor countries and private institutions. Protocols developed by the ICMP have helped cut identification process costs, making DNA identification affordable.

“The cost of the chemicals needed for a DNA analysis and identification of one case is around 200 euros if the case is not a complicated by the perpetrators of the crime trying to hide the evidence by disturbing the grave and mixing the remains,” Agovic said.

“In such cases, specifically Srebrenica, the costs could be doubled and often rise many times this basic level.” But it’s still only a small price to pay for the knowledge this information can bring to waiting families.

The issues they have to deal with are many. Apart from coping with the loss of family members, relatives often run into a legal vacuum over issues of reparations, inheritance and family status. This has led missing persons families to form associations and seek legal assistance.

Bosnia is the first country to have adopted legislation on missing persons. The legislation passed in November 2004 created the Institute for Missing Persons, a fund for providing assistance to the families of missing persons, and the Central Registry of Missing persons.

The law has tasked the state with searching out and returning body remains to relatives, and providing benefits to families of missing persons. It also simplified procedures faced by the families of missing persons.

As a result families were not forced to declare missing relatives as dead in order to claim benefits and property rights. They were instead given the option to sign up for “temporary trusteeship” of the property and get support from missing persons benefits.