31,600 documents undoubtedly confirm death or disappearance of 13,535 individuals during war in Kosovo

The presentation and evaluation of the Kosovo Memory Book (KMB) Database was held today in the Belgrade Media Centre. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) and the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo joined forces in the production of the KMB Database, containing data on the people who lost their lives  or disappeared in events related to the war in Kosovo in the period January 1st, 1998 – December 31st, 2000. The conference was attended by a large number of media, non-governmental organizations, and local and international institutions and experts.

On the occasion of Human Rights Day: Record of murdered/killed and dissapeared persons in connection with the war in Kosovo

The Kosovo Memory Book presented at the New School in New York

On November 15, 2011, at the New School for Social Research in New York, Natasa Kandic presented the first volume of theKosovo Memory Book to a number of students and representatives from the Consulate General of Kosovo and the American Council for Kosovo. The book contains the life narratives of 2,050 people who were killed, died or disappeared during the war in Kosovo in 1998. The audience strongly welcomed the publication of the list of all human losses in Kosovo. In registering the names of all casualties, the book is an instrument that has the potential to prevent the manipulation of numbers and denial of crimes.

Kosovo Memory Book: 1998 – Book Promotion in London

LONDON, 15th September 2011, the British Academy – States have a clear but largely unmet responsibility for full and transparent reporting of those killed in armed violence around the world. This is the central message of a new initiative, the Charter for the Recognition of Every Casualty of Armed Violence, launched Thursday, 15 September, at the British Academy and already endorsed by 37 humanitarian and human rights organisations from around the world.

In Pristina promoted The Kosovo Memory Book

Humanitarian Law Center and Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo organized promotion of Kosovo Memory Book, 1998 that is composed by 2.046 narratives of killed, fallen and missing persons during the war in Kosovo in 1998. According to Natasa Kandic from humanitarian Law Center this book is very important because it describes the context of how thousands of people were killed in Kosovo. “For the first time in the history of Balkans we have a book that tells stories of victims and will serve for the future generations to refer to this book while they speak about that what happened in the past” and added that “this book does not intend to equalize victims but to show the societies in Serbia and Kosovo what happened during this period”. Bekim Blakaj from Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo spoke about the engagement of tens of person in collecting data and that more than 8.400 interviews are done with victim’s family members.

Kosovo Memory Book: 1998 – Book Promotion in Belgrade

BELGRADE, 09/08/2011 – Today, September 8, 2011, on the premises of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), the first volume of the Kosovo Memory Book: 1998 was promoted. The book deals with human losses in Kosovo in 1998. The follwoing speakers took part in the promotion: Mr. Nils Ragnar Kamsvag, Norwegian Ambassador; Natasa Kandic, Director of HLC; Bekim Blakaj, Director of HLC-Kosovo, Olgica Bozanic from the Associations of Families of Victims and Missing Persons; Slobodan Kostic, journalist; and Vladimir Arsenijevic, writer. The presentation was attended by family members of victims and missing persons, NGO representatives, representatives of the diplomatic corps in Serbia, as well as judges and prosecutors. None of the politicians or senior government officials attended the event.

Kosovo Memory Book

As of February 2013, after a five year long investigation into the number of people that were killed or who disappeared over the course of the conflict in Kosovo (January 1, 1998 to June 20, 1999) and immediately following the conflict, up until the deployment of international forces (completed by the end of 2000) – the HLC and HLC Kosova collected 9,852 statements from witnesses, victims’ family members and persons with specific knowledge of victims and war crimes.  7,786 of those statements were taken from ethnic Albanian witnesses and victims’ family members; 1,613 from Serb witnesses and victims’ family members and 453 statements were given by individuals of other ethnicities.  The HLC’s database now contains 5,541 photographs of victims, 6,936 other documents and 2,426 records from the Hague Tribunal’s archives that were used as evidence during the proceedings.  By analyzing witness statements and documents from other sources, HLC and HLC Kosova researchers were able to document 13,526 disappearances or deaths that occurred between January 1, 1998 and the end of 2000.

On September 11, 2011, the HLC and HLC Kosova published the first volume of the Kosovo Memory Book.  The book contains the names of 2,046 people who lost their lives in 1998 in connection with the Kosovo conflict.  Each individual’s name is accompanied by a narrative of the specific circumstances of their death or disappearance.

More about Kosovo Memory Book on http://www.kosovomemorybook.org/

HLC – Kosovo presents data on the missing and killed in Gračanica/Graçanicë

On 29 January 2010 the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) and the Humanitarian Law Center – Kosovo (HLC-Kosovo) held a public presentation of the interim results of the record of killed and missing Serbs, Roma, Montenegrins, Bosniaks and other non-Albanians in Kosovo in Kosovo in the period from January 1998 until December 2000. The presentation took place in the in the Gračanica/Graçanicë Cultural Center and was attended by around 100 family members of the victims, representatives of associations of victims, representatives of the International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP), Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), and the media.

Belgrade presentation of the interim results of the list of killed, dead and missing Serbs, Roma, Bosniaks, Montenegrins and other non-Albanians in Kosovo

Approximately 100 victims’ family members attended a presentation held in the Belgrade City Hall on October 6th 2009 where the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) presented the results of the list of the killed, dead, and missing Serbs, Roma, Bosniaks, and other non-Albanians in Kosovo in the period from 1998 until 2000. Ombudsman Saša Janković, representatives of the Republic of Serbia Government Commission on Missing Persons, a representative of the Republic of Serbia Ministry of Defence and a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross also attended the presentation besides victims’ family members.