YIHR was represented at the meeting by researcher Branimir Đurović. He presented the key YIHR findings regarding the process of adopting the new Draft Law on the Rights of Missing Persons and Their Families, the case of convicted war criminal Rajko Kozlina’s escape, and the unresolved case of the murder of the Bytyqi brothers in Petrovo Selo. Additionally, the YIHR’s researcher reminded the UN committee members about the ineffective efforts to locate the remains of kidnapped citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) from the abductions in Sjeverin and Štrpci, as well as the need for amendments to the Law on War Memorials and the Law on the Rights of Veterans, Military Invalids, Civilian War Invalids, and Their Families so that both laws would be inclusive in terms of recognizing victims, memory culture, and reparations.
The members of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances showed interest in the presence of Goran Radosavljević Guri in Pioneers Park, city center of capital of Serbia, in the week leading up to the major protest in Belgrade on March 15, as well as the progress in the process of adopting a law regulating the issue of missing persons. YIHR representative emphasized the demand that Serbian officials stop the practice of denying war crimes and glorifying war criminals. In response to questions from the UN committee members, Đurović reminded them of Serbia’s obligation to adopt the UN General Assembly Resolution on the Srebrenica genocide, as well as to annul the decision regarding the competition and the mural painting of convicted war criminal Nebojša Pavković in the town of Ćuprija.
Nataša Kandić, on behalf of the Humanitarian Law Centre, also participated at the meeting and reflected on the work of the commissions for missing persons in the region of the former Yugoslavia and the cooperation between Serbia and Kosovo in locating missing persons.
*The United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances is a body of independent experts that monitors the implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted in 2007.
Photo: Action of YIHR Serbia “Batajnica: The Buried Truth”, March 2019
