Recommendation 1685 (2004)

Persons unaccounted for as a result of armed conflicts or internal violence in the Balkans

Author(s): Parliamentary Assembly

Origin - (seeDoc.10251, report of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population, rapporteur: Mr Çavu•o•lu). Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 23 November 2004

1. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution 1414 (2004) on persons unaccounted for as a result of armed conflicts or internal violence in the Balkans.

2. It considers the missing persons in the Balkans and, more specifically, the missing persons in Kosovo as a European problem with serious consequences for the maintenance of peace in the region and for the reconciliation between ethnic groups.

3. It also recognises that, almost five years after the conflict, there is a lack of strategy by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (Unmik) regarding the problem of missing persons.

4. Therefore, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

4.1. organise a meeting of experts to prepare a strategy regarding the problem of missing persons in the Balkans, and in particular in Kosovo, and a plan for its implementation, including technical recommendations;

4.2. consider the elaboration of human rights awareness projects on the problem of the missing persons in close co-operation with the Unmik Office on Missing Persons and Forensics (OMPF).