Amor Masovic has spent 28 years searching for human remains across Bosnia and Herzegovina.
But in that time, there have only been a few times, no more than 20, when people have come forward with information – tips on where the bodies are buried.
“The amount of information [obtained] from insiders who were involved in war crimes, or at least in burying war crime victims, is negligible,” Masovic, director of Bosnia’s Missing Persons Institute, told Al Jazeera.
Many participated in war crimes in Bosnia, and they still know where the remains are currently buried – from the person who pulled the trigger and the driver who transported the bodies from the execution site to the mass grave diggers.
You are not alone : The Movement’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Bosnia-Herzegovina
Following the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Bosnia-Herzegovina in early March 2020, an immense public uncertainty emerged, compounded with unclarity on the nature of the virus at the time.
The Red Cross Society of Bosnia-Herzegovina, supported by other Movement partners such as the ICRC, the IFRC, Swiss, Turkish, Italian, Austrian and other National Societies, immediately enrolled a coordinated action to respond to the pandemic and its consequences.
In addition to supporting the overall Red Cross response for the general population, the ICRC has also provided assistance tailored to the additional needs of its usual clients and partners in the country, such as families of missing persons, mine victims, forensic institutes, or prisons.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: 25 years after the end of the conflict COVID-19 brings additional uncertainty for the families of the missing
In 2020, Bosnia-Herzegovina marked the 25th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement and the end of the 1992-1995 conflict, which left the country with devastating consequences. Over 100,000 people have died and tens of thousands went missing as a result of the war. Over 7,000 of them are still unaccounted for.
Bosnia-Herzegovina has been harshly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The country was in a strict lockdown for several months, and later on, the society had to adapt to the mid and long-term consequences of the pandemic. This also meant that the work of the Missing Persons Institute (MPI) and its efforts to find missing people were temporarily suspended in the first half of the year. Still, 70 persons were exhumed and 52 persons identified in 2020, according to official MPI statistics.