ICMP: BiH still not investing enough in finding missing persons

Authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina must engage more actively in the process of finding missing persons, stated speakers on Tuesday during a public forum organized by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in Banja Luka, reports the Patria News Agency (NAP).

- The state of BiH is still not showing enough effort in finding solutions to this common problem - stated Milutin Mišić, member of the collegium of directors of the Institute for Missing Persons of BiH (INO). 

- There must be state responsibility. One of the obstacles in the process of searching for and identifying missing persons is the lack of information – the problem lies in the fact that those who are obliged to provide information are not doing so, even though they are legally obligated to.

This forum was attended by representatives of associations of families of missing persons, the Institute for Missing Persons of BiH, the BiH Prosecutor's Office, and the BiH Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees, with the aim of reviewing what has been done so far to resolve the issue of missing persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and what still needs to be done in the coming period.

It was concluded that the processes of searching for and identifying missing persons should be more transparent and completely depoliticized. All parties must be more proactive and willing to accept criticism, so that it can be used for possible improvements in work. 

ICMP began the forum by presenting a report, published in book form, titled Persons Missing Due to Armed Conflicts in the 1990s in BiH: A Status Overview, which describes twenty years of efforts made towards finding missing persons, and examines specific issues in Donje Podrinje, Gornje Podrinje, Herzegovina, Sarajevo, Posavina, Central Bosnia, Northeast and West Bosnia, reports NAP.