On the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, which is observed today in memory of victims of enforced disappearances, disappearances during armed conflicts and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Action (HRA), the Montenegrin Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights, the Center for Women’s and Peace Education ANIMA and the Association “Štrpci – Against Oblivion” warn that, three decades after the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the families of over 9,700 missing persons are still waiting for their loved ones or their remains to be found.

Clarifying the fate of the missing is a legal and moral obligation toward the victims, their families, and society as a whole. While the families of the missing endure an unbearable burden of uncertainty, unable to find closure, the countries in the region show a lack of political will to resolve this issue without further delay.

The Humanitarian Law Center from Belgrade, Documenta from Zagreb, the Humanitarian Law Center from Kosovo and the Association for Social Research and Communication from Bosnia and Herzegovina have appealed to the governments and missing persons commissions in the region to dedicate efforts in the upcoming period to identifying more than 3,000 exhumed human remains currently stored in morgues in Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek, Sarajevo, Visoko, Tuzla, Banja Luka, Mostar, Nevesinje and Priština.

They have also called on the commissions to resume joint inspections of potential mass and individual grave sites and to re-examine previously exhumed mass grave locations, as multiple sources indicate that unexhumed remains may still be present.

Our NGOs support this appeal, particularly emphasizing the urgent need for a thorough search of Lake Perućac, where, to date, the remains of only four out of twenty victims abducted from a train in Štrpci have been found. This lake has never been fully examined.

In the case of Kaluđerski Laz, authorities are still searching for one victim, Sadik Ramcaj (72) from Vrela near Istok in Kosovo, who was killed by members of the Army of Serbia and Montenegro in 1999 in the village of Police near Rožaje, on the border with Serbia. According to testimonies, he was kept tied to a tree for days, and after dying from the abuse, his body was never recovered. It is believed to have been removed or buried somewhere near the site of the murder.

In the Deportation case, several refugees and other Bosnian citizens who were unlawfully detained in Montenegro and handed over to the armed forces of the Serb Republic in BiH are still missing. Among them is Osmo Bajrović, whose family lives in Herceg Novi. The last known information is that the group of detainees, including Bajrović, was taken from Herceg Novi on May 27, 1992, and handed over to the military headquarters in Bratunac, after which all traces of them were lost.

In the Lora case, out of fourteen soldiers from the so-called Nikšić–Šavnik group of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), who were believed to be prisoners of war in the Croatian Army’s military investigation center in Split, the body of Miloš Perunović is still missing. The remains of twelve others were found in various locations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, around Mostar and Trebinje.

According to the Montenegrin Government’s Commission for Missing Persons, the commission is currently searching for 50 people: 38 in Kosovo, 9 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and 3 in Croatia.

From 2015 to 2025, the remains of eight individuals have been recovered.

In early June this year, the remains of three persons were found in the municipality of Nikšić. They are believed to be members of the Klapuh family, who were killed in 1992 in Plužine. At the request of the Missing Persons Institute of BiH, the Montenegrin Commission collected bone samples for DNA analysis, but the results have not yet been delivered, despite announcements that they would be available within a month.

In the area of reparations for the families of forcibly disappeared persons, Montenegro in February 2025 finally adopted a law defining the status of civilian victims of war, which provides monthly compensation for the family members of victims. Under this law, all family members of those killed or disappeared in the territory of the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s wars are recognized as civilian war victims. Additionally, the government decided to award one-time payments of €100,000 to 16 families as compensation for 30 years without any social assistance.

However, we emphasize that more than 16 families are in the same situation, and we advocate for equal compensation for all of them.

One of the goals of the War Crimes Investigation Strategy 2024–2027 is to improve mechanisms for uncovering the fate of missing persons. A proposed amendment to the Criminal Code includes enforced disappearance as a distinct criminal offense, in line with recommendations from international human rights bodies.

We call on all relevant state authorities in Montenegro and other countries in the region to cooperate more actively in clarifying the fate of the missing, in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 63/183 on Missing Persons, which urges states, government, and non-governmental organizations to take action at all levels to resolve reported cases of disappearances in armed conflicts and to provide appropriate assistance.

The International Day of the Disappeared has been marked since 2011 and was established by UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/65/209, adopted on December 21, 2010, with the aim of drawing attention to the fate of the missing and affirming the right of their families to truth and justice.

Human Rights Action (HRA)

Montenegrin Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights

Center for Women’s and Peace Education ANIMA

Association “Štrpci – Against Oblivion”