Zvizdić – Bomberger: To Continue Systematic, Professional and Unbiased Work on Finding of Missing Persons

Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BIH Denis Zvizdić held a meeting with Kathryne Bomberger, Director General of the International Committee for Missing Persons (ICMP), on which occasion he stressed that Bosnia and Herzegovina’s authorities must maintain their systematic, professional and unbiased approach in the process of finding of missing persons, although it elapsed almost 20 years from the end of conflicts. 

Chairman Zvizdić said that key institutions, responsible for solving the issue of missing persons, i.e. the Institute for Missing Persons of BIH and Prosecutor’s Office of BIH, must be offered support in order to carry out their part of responsibilities, saying that it is important that in the process of looking for hidden burial sites throughout the country all available methods should be applied.

Director General Bomberger underlined an urgent need for a full implementation of the Law on Missing Persons, because even though the Law was adopted in 2004, its key provisions, such as establishment of a fund for families of missing persons, were not implemented. She said that the state must remain active and support the institutions involved in the process, including the Institute for Missing Persons, Prosecutor’s Office and courts, and that the Institute budget must be provided for in order to ensure tis smooth functioning.

The Council of Ministers must undertake a full supervision over the Institute management departments and its restructuring must be carried out, in order to make it aligned with other State-level institutions, ICPM Director said.

“The ICMP has carried out almost 15,000 identifications until year 2001, and DNA analysis was introduced into the identification process”, she said, adding that “DNA analysis is a scientific process, and it has nothing in common with ethnic origin or politics, and if relevant institutions enjoy support from all-level government and all political parties, with an active cooperation with families of missing persons, it will be able to continue the identification process, and that is the outcome we all seek for”.

The ICMP finalised a series of round table discussions in the country, the final one being in Banjaluka this week, where academics and other experts in the field of missing persons discussed recommendations, presented in the Review of Situation, and strategies for maintaining of the process of identification of persons still unaccounted for.

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