TRILATERAL MEETING OF CHIEF PROSECUTORS OF BIH, SERBIA AND CROATIA HELD IN THE BRČKO DISTRICT OF BIH

Central topic of the meeting has been strengthening of regional cooperation in the process of tracing and identifying missing persons, as an important segment in the prosecution of war crimes cases.

At the meeting, Mr. Goran Salihović, Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has noted that Bosnia and Herzegovina is particularly interested in this process, because Bosnia and Herzegovina is still searching for around 8.000 persons, and cooperation with neighbouring countries is very important in some of these search processes, in order that the victims could be found and identified.

“The process of finding and identifying missing persons is one of the priorities of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and we will do whatever is necessary to expedite this process” – Chief Prosecutor Salihović has stated.

The meeting has been attended by the Chief Prosecutor Goran Salihović, Dinko Cvitan and Vladimir Vukčević, as well as by officials from the institutions for tracing missing persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia, respectively, and they have talked about the results achieved so far in tracing and identifying missing persons, as well as about the future necessary activities. The meeting has also been attended by an official of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

After the war, Bosnia and Herzegovina had had the largest number of missing persons when compared to other countries in the region, and around two thirds of the total number of missing persons have been found and identified, which represents a positive step forward, as this number of found persons is far higher when compared to post-war situations in other parts of the world. 

A joint conclusion of the meeting is that a more intensive cooperation and exchange of data on missing persons is necessary between prosecutor’s offices and institutions in the countries in the region, so that the process of finding and identifying missing persons could be expedited in this manner.

At the meeting, there was discussion about some specific activities in individual cases of tracing missing persons which require regional cooperation in order to find the victims.

The participants at the meeting have been of the opinion that the meeting in Brčko is the first trilateral meeting with the participation of officials of prosecutor’s offices and institutions involved in the process of tracing missing persons, which is a positive step in this process and it should be continued in the future.

The trilateral meeting in Brčko has been held under the auspices and with the support of the United Nations Organization and organized by the UNDP Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.