Commemorations for missing persons in the Balkans

Commemorations for the International Day of the Disappeared and the Day of Remembrance for the Missing in the Homeland War have taken place in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

In Vogošća, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Association of Families of the Missing planned to install a silhouette of a missing person at Defenders’ Square. Association president Ema Čekić stated the initiative seeks to encourage institutions and the public to actively search for individuals missing from the 1992–1995 war, noting that families prefer even grim information over continued uncertainty.

In Vukovar, Croatia, various veteran and family associations, supported by the Ministry of Croatian Veterans, held tributes at the Borovo Naselje monument, services at the Memorial Cemetery of Victims of the Homeland War, and a mass. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Croatian Veterans Tomo Medved described the search for missing persons as a “permanent obligation” of the Republic of Croatia to provide answers to families who have waited for over 30 years.