prijava
SARAJEVO, April 2 (FENA) - The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and the Embassy of Sweden in Sarajevo have signed an agreement under which Sweden will provide an additional 100.000 Euros to support ICMP’s program in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Including this additional funding, since 2002 Sweden has provided 23.000.000 SEK to support ICMP’s work in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“This new grant is part of Sweden’s long-term assistance for ICMP’s contribution to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s effort to account for the missing and to uphold the rights of survivors,” Marie Bergstrom, the Head of Development Cooperation at the Embassy of Sweden, said today. “Accounting for those who are still missing is a crucial element in maintaining peace and stability. ICMP provides the authorities with targeted and effective assistance and this is why Sweden is supporting its program in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
Matthew Holliday, the Head of ICMP’s Western Balkans Program, thanked the Swedish government for its support. He noted that the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been able to account for almost 23,000 people who were missing at the end of the conflict, “but that still means that approximately 8,000 families do not yet know the fate of a loved one. These families are entitled to the truth, to justice and to reparation, and this is why the effort to account for the missing must continue.”
ICMP is helping the authorities to address the issue of unidentified remains held in BIH mortuaries. It is also providing Forensic Anthropology and Archaeology assistance, while ensuring that Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to have access to ICMP’s DNA testing and matching technology for human identification.
In addition, ICMP is helping to strengthen forensic medicine capacities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is seeking to strengthen the capacity of the Missing Persons Institute (MPI), among other things, by working with the BIH authorities to ensure the handover of managerial responsibility for the MPI to the BIH Council of Ministers by amending the MPI Co-Founders Agreement. This will ensure that the MPI is a fully BIH institution. Currently, ICMP and the BIH Council of Ministers play a joint managerial role as co-founders of the MPI, stated ICMP in a press release.
(FENA) S. R.
