Families of people who disappeared during the 1990s conflict in Kosovo demanded legal changes to ensure benefits for those whose relatives’ bodies are among the 1,700 not yet found.
Edona Peci BIRN Pristina
The relatives confronted members of a parliament-backed working group on missing persons at its first public meeting on Wednesday, saying that they were being unfairly treated compared to others who suffered as a result of the conflict.

“Some families aren’t just missing just one member, but sometimes two, three or four members who were kidnapped [by Serbian forces] during the war,” said Nysrete Kumnova head of the Missing Persons Association in Gjakova, whose son hasn’t been seen since the conflict ended in 1999.

Under the current legislation, families get 135 euro a month in payments if one family member is missing. If two are missing, they receive 162 euro, and 176 euro if three are missing.

However if a missing person’s body is found, the family ceases to receive any benefits, according to the current legislation, and the state only covers expenses for the identification and reburial of the remains.

“Two of my sons went missing during the war. Once I found one of them, you [the government] told me: ‘This is it, now you won’t get anything for this son because he is no longer missing,’” Bajram Qerkini, whose other son is still missing, told the officials at the meeting.

The legislation, which covers those killed in the war, invalids, veterans, former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, civil victims and their family members offers people in some of these categories monthly payments of up to 534 euro, as well as health, education and other benefits.

The proposals discussed in the meeting with the families will be considered by a parliamentary commission, which will then send an amended version of the legislation to the presidency of the parliament, then to the government, which has to approve any changes before a parliamentary vote.

More than 1,700 people remain missing in Kosovo since the end of the 1998-99 conflict with Serbian forces./balkaninsight/