Newsroom
OSCE hopes book of photographs will help families identify victims in Kosovo
PRISTINA 6 February 2001
PRISTINA, 6 February 2001 - The OSCE Mission in Kosovo and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are hoping that a new joint initiative will help identify some of the victims of ethnically-motivated killings, whose bodies were exhumed by international investigators last year.
A book, containing 750 photographs of clothing and personal effects found with about 200 bodies recovered during 2000 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), has just been published by the OSCE. The book will be available for viewing at all ICRC field offices throughout Kosovo and through the Missing Persons Bureaux in Pristina and Gracanica. The ICRC s and the Bureau's mobile teams will take the book to isolated communities.
The clothes, watches, glasses and other personal items featured in the booklet belong to cases referred to the OSCE Missing Persons Identification Project by the ICTY. The unidentified victims are believed to be Albanian, Serb, and Roma.
The OSCE identification project is part of the Victim Recovery and Identification Commission (VRIC), which was set up last May to help identify recovered remains and provide support and assistance to the families of the missing. The facilities and procedures to run the identification programme have been put in place by OSCE human rights and forensic experts. Kosovo staff attached to the programme are also being trained to enable them continue the programme in the long term.
If someone believes they recognize items in the photos, they can go and see OSCE or ICRC field staff who will then follow up the case. This would involve talking to family members in more detail about their missing relative s medical history and other issues. If they wish to actually view the items shown in the photographs, that will be arranged.
Many of the articles featured in the book were put on view last year to help the identification process. Photo presentations were also held in minority as well as Kosovo Albanian communities. However, it is hoped this latest project will allow a larger number of people to see them in a less distressing way.
We would like as many people as possible to be able to view the photographs we have, said OSCE Forensic Adviser, Dr. Tarja Formisto, but going to a presentation can be very stressful. Often people don t want to go or don t want to recognize something because they want to believe their relative is still alive. With these books, people from all over Kosovo can look at them, reflect, and come back again if they feel there is something they recognize.
Last year, 260 bodies were identified by the OSCE/VRIC team. 370 bodies exhumed by the ICTY in 2000 remain to be identified along with 890 bodies exhumed in 1999.
OSCE played a key role in documenting humanitarian law violations committed during the conflict in Kosovo and continues with the Identification Project to support families of missing persons and the unknown victims of the conflict.
For further information, contact OSCE Spokesperson Claire Trevena Tel: (+381-38) 500-162 ext. 260 / mobile: +377 (044) 500-150 / email: press@omik.org //www.osce.org/kosovo/
A book, containing 750 photographs of clothing and personal effects found with about 200 bodies recovered during 2000 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), has just been published by the OSCE. The book will be available for viewing at all ICRC field offices throughout Kosovo and through the Missing Persons Bureaux in Pristina and Gracanica. The ICRC s and the Bureau's mobile teams will take the book to isolated communities.
The clothes, watches, glasses and other personal items featured in the booklet belong to cases referred to the OSCE Missing Persons Identification Project by the ICTY. The unidentified victims are believed to be Albanian, Serb, and Roma.
The OSCE identification project is part of the Victim Recovery and Identification Commission (VRIC), which was set up last May to help identify recovered remains and provide support and assistance to the families of the missing. The facilities and procedures to run the identification programme have been put in place by OSCE human rights and forensic experts. Kosovo staff attached to the programme are also being trained to enable them continue the programme in the long term.
If someone believes they recognize items in the photos, they can go and see OSCE or ICRC field staff who will then follow up the case. This would involve talking to family members in more detail about their missing relative s medical history and other issues. If they wish to actually view the items shown in the photographs, that will be arranged.
Many of the articles featured in the book were put on view last year to help the identification process. Photo presentations were also held in minority as well as Kosovo Albanian communities. However, it is hoped this latest project will allow a larger number of people to see them in a less distressing way.
We would like as many people as possible to be able to view the photographs we have, said OSCE Forensic Adviser, Dr. Tarja Formisto, but going to a presentation can be very stressful. Often people don t want to go or don t want to recognize something because they want to believe their relative is still alive. With these books, people from all over Kosovo can look at them, reflect, and come back again if they feel there is something they recognize.
Last year, 260 bodies were identified by the OSCE/VRIC team. 370 bodies exhumed by the ICTY in 2000 remain to be identified along with 890 bodies exhumed in 1999.
OSCE played a key role in documenting humanitarian law violations committed during the conflict in Kosovo and continues with the Identification Project to support families of missing persons and the unknown victims of the conflict.
For further information, contact OSCE Spokesperson Claire Trevena Tel: (+381-38) 500-162 ext. 260 / mobile: +377 (044) 500-150 / email: press@omik.org //www.osce.org/kosovo/