Searching for missing persons in Kosovo: an overview of EULEX Kosovo’s work

From the beginning of its mandate to date, EULEX has been working relentlessly to locate and return the remains of missing persons to their families so that they can be buried with respect and dignity.

Shedding light on the fate of missing persons is a continuing obligation; since 2009, the Mission has conducted a total of 692 field operations to locate missing persons, including 188 exhumations. The remains of 480 individuals have been identified, including 332 missing persons. From August 2021 to August 2022, EULEX experts participated in 21 field operations, including nine exhumations. This resulted in the identification of three missing persons. Currently EULEX’s experts are also working together with the Kosovo authorities on the review all human remains stored in the Pristina mortuary as well as the associated case files.

To make the search for missing people more difficult and hide evidence of these crimes, perpetrators hid bodies in small, clandestine graves, or even in cemeteries. An overview of the number of bodies exhumed in five cemeteries is available below:

After the war in Kosovo, international and local forensic experts found a significant number of missing persons in the following locations in Kosovo and in Serbia:

EULEX is committed to continue providing its essential contribution to the search for missing persons from the Kosovo war and its aftermath. EULEX experts continue to work together with local counterparts at the Institute of Forensic Medicine to determine the fate of missing persons by offering expertise and advice in the identification of potential clandestine graves and the exhumation and identification of victims.