The Center for Civic Education (CGO) called on the competent institutions to finally start acting in the direction of establishing justice for families whose relatives are missing, especially when it comes to forced disappearances during war conflicts.
CGO announced a statement signed by Tamara Milaš, coordinator of the Human Rights program at CGO, on the occasion of August 30 - the International Day of Missing Persons.
"For years, on the International Day of Missing Persons, the CGO has been giving a special room respect to all victims of enforced disappearance and reminds of the right of families to know the fate of their loved ones who are missing. For years, we have been calling for greater professionalism and the establishment of standards in order to respect family unity, to identify missing persons and provide information about their fate," said Milaš.
As he adds "according to the data of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which they presented in the publication 'Montenegro - persons missing due to armed conflicts during the 90s - overview of the situation and recommendations for improving the results of the search for the missing and the position of their families", 34.886 persons disappeared from 1991 to 2001".
"While 51 people are still missing in Montenegro, of which 39 people are being sought in Kosovo, nine in Bosnia and Herzegovina and three in Croatia. Each of these missing people has their own life story and it must be up to enlightened at the end," says Milaš.
Despite our long-term efforts of the CGO, as she said, in pointing out the shortcomings of the legislative framework, there is no improvement".
"Well, even today, that framework does not recognize the families of persons who are considered missing as civilian victims of war, and the reparations system is flawed and discriminatory, which cannot be said for neighboring countries. Given the recorded activities of Montenegro in armed conflicts during the nineties , as well as judicially established facts that indicate the role of Montenegrin citizens in those events, the proactive approach of Montenegrin institutions is of key importance in determining the fate of missing persons. Unfortunately, even after the political changes in Montenegro, a political structure has not yet emerged that would put this issue in focus and solve it in an adequate way, even though this issue also burdens Montenegrin's path to the European Union," Milaš pointed out.
As he says, the CGO reminds that the current dynamics of elucidating the fate of missing persons is not even in accordance with the humanitarian dimension of this problem. Additionally, with the passage of time, the chances of finding missing persons decrease, and one of the biggest problems is the lack of information.
"CGO once again appeals to the Government of Montenegro and competent institutions to approach the search for missing persons holistically and decisively, engaging all available mechanisms, with the constant improvement of regional cooperation in cases of searches, both at the level of the Government and at the level of judicial authorities, but also civil organizations society", concludes Milaš.
The CGO recalls that the International Day of Missing Persons was established on August 30, 1981, with the aim of reminding families of the right to know the fate of their loved ones who are missing.
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