EULEX - on missing persons

“Missing Persons is a very important issue for EULEX” says de Kermabon
30 January, 2009

The Head of Mission and Mayor of Gjakova/Djakovica meet the media
Yves de Kermabon meeting Kosovo Police




The EULEX Head of Mission, Yves de Kermabon, has visited Gjakova/Djakovica to meet officials involved in the rule of law. He met Kosovo Police officers, EULEX Police officers as well as the Mayor of the town and representatives from the municipality. Speaking to the media afterwards, Mr de Kermabon underlined the importance of the continuing close cooperation between local counterparts and EULEX staff.
“The EULEX Mission is based in local ownership and accountability”, he said.
The Head of Mission also spoke about the important issue of missing persons. He said this was a key issue for EULEX and that the Mission was determined to make progress in this area. He gave details of a meeting last week between the Head of the EULEX Justice Component, Alberto Perduca and his team, and local authorities and families of missing persons. But he also made it clear that success would not be achieved overnight.
“There are a lot of difficult cases some of which are very old where we have no evidence, no files and no witnesses. But what we are trying to do, as a minimum, is to be transparent, to give the information we have and if possible, to solve the case. We are going to do our very best.”
EULEX has a special unit called the Office of Missing Persons and Forensics with dedicated staff working on the issue.