Families of missing persons have the right to know the truth: The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) remains committed to supporting the Kosovo Institute of Forensic Medicine (IFM) and other relevant institutions in the search and identification of missing persons.

On 30^th August 2025, Kosovo marked the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, and the Mission, in cooperation with IFM published a snapshot of the key results achieved in the search and identification of missing persons over the last year, alongside the main challenges still faced by EULEX and IFM’s experts in conducting those activities.

See the snapshot here.

On 29^th August, the EULEX Deputy Head of Mission, Emily Rakhorst, paid respect to the victims joining the official ceremony organized by Kosovo institutions to recall the importance of shedding light on the fate of the around 1,590 missing persons related to the Kosovo conflict.

In the morning, Rakhorst also attended the launch of a compelling collection of interviews with missing persons’ families documented by the local NGOs BIRN Kosovo and Advocacy Center for Democratic Culture, as part of the EU-funded project “Uncovering the Truth: Combating Monoethnic Journalism and Advocating for the Missing Persons in Kosovo”.

The project is a strong reminder that the trauma of those left behind deserves to be marked, as well as an outstanding testimony to the role of impartial media in keeping the memory of those missing by contributing to the shared demand for truth and accountability thanks to the preservation of true accounts.

Strong alliances among independent media outlets help the search for the missing, not only through honest reporting, but also by relentlessly advocating for people to reach out to relevant authorities with any information that might help.

On 30^th August, EULEX Deputy Head of Mission joined EULEX longstanding civil society’s partners, the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo and the Missing Persons Resource Center in revealing the memorial “Tree of Lives,” engraved with the names of the missing: A space to remember the void left by missing persons, thanks to the support of the European Union Office in Kosovo and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.