Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia-Herzegovina Excavates Key Mass Grave Sites in Herzegovina

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[:en]US ambassador visit to Herzegovina sites-0374 24 June 2009: The Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia-Herzegovina (MPI) continues its key work of finding and excavating mass graves as MPI teams began work on two key sites located in south-western Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Institute’s work at the two locations demonstrated its readiness and ability to operate as the state-level institution tasked with dealing with some 17,500 missing persons across the entire territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Work has begun on an exhumation site in Batijevica, near Goranci, Mostar, and a second site outside Posusje. Based on background information provided by MPI, the sites relate to events that took place between August 1992 and the beginning of 1993. MPI Directors Milan Bogdanic, Marko Jurisic and Amor Masovic, accompanied by a delegation including members of the MPI Advisory Board, visited the area.

Since the beginning of 2008, MPI has assisted and worked on finding, exhuming or examining  more than one hundred individual and mass grave sites across the country, with the work of the Missing Persons Institute forming the effective focal centre of the search for persons missing in BiH following the 1992-1995 conflict. MPI is currently assuming increased operational responsibility as data from CEN BiH, the Central Records of Missing Persons in Bosnia-Herzegovina, begins to be transferred to it from ICMP, the International Commission on Missing Persons.

«MPI is dedicated to its mission and to the expedited resolution of the fate of missing persons,» said Milan Bogdanic, Chairman of the MPI Board of Directors. «It is also dedicated to the creation of a central database on missing persons, and this dedication is demonstrated through the everyday attendance of MPI investigators from regional and field offices at the site assessments of individual and mass graves.»

Chairman of the BiH MPI Board of Directors Milan Bogdanic«What we are seeing in front of us today in the caves and quarries of Hercegovina is the terrible continuing legacy, thirteen years on, of the conflicts in Bosnia-Herzegovina,» said ICMP Director-General Ms.Kathryne Bomberger, «but what we are also seeing is the ever-increasing capacity and commitment of MPI to dealing with this legacy, and to helping the country begin to put the past to bed and move towards a new stability.»

ICMP is a co-founder of MPI which was inaugurated as a state-level institution in 2005, taking  over the responsibilities, staff and budgets of the entity bodies formerly charged with these responsibilities. The work of MPI also brings closer the implementation of the Law on Missing  Persons, which helps safeguard the rights of families of the missing.

MPI Directors Milan Bogdanic, Marko Jurisic and Amor Masovic were accompanied by ICMP Director-General Ms.Kathryne Bomberger, Special Representative to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Caroline Ravaud, US Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina H.E Charles L. English and Henry Fournier, Head of Delegation for Bosnia-Herzegovina for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).[:bs]Institut za nestale osobe Bosne i Hercegovine (INO) nastavlja sa radom na lociranju i iskopavanju masovnih grobnica. Timovi INO-a počinju sa radom na dvije ključne lokacije u jugoistočnom dijelu Bosne i Hercegovine. Rad na ove dvije lokacije pokazuje spremnost i sposobnost Instituta da funkcioniše kao državna institucija sa zadatakom pronalaženja oko 17,500 osoba nestalih širom Bosne i Hercegovine.

Proces ekshumacije je već počeo na lokaciji Bahtijevica, u blizini mjesta Goranci pored Mostara i na još jednoj lokaciji u blizini Posušja. Prema informacijama INO-a, lokacije su povezane sa događajima iz perioda avgust 1992. godine – početak 1993. godine. Članovi Kolegija direktora INO-a: Milan Bogdanić, Marko Jurišić i Amor Mašović, u pratnji delegacije u kojoj su se našli i članovi Savjetodavnog odbora, obišli su ovo područje.

Od početka 2008. godine, INO je pomagao i radio na pronalasku, ekshumaciji i obradi više od stotinu pojedinačnih i masovnih grobnica širom zemlje. Rad Instituta za nestale osobe predstavlja najvažniji i najdjelotvorni dio procesa traženja osoba nestalih u BiH tokom sukoba 1992.-1995. godine. INO je trenutno u procesu preuzimanja više operativnih odgovornosti, jer je započet prenos podataka iz Centralne evidencije nestalih osoba u Bosni i Hercegovni (CEN BiH), koju su kreirali stručnjaci Međunarodne komisije za nestale osobe (ICMP).

«INO je posvećen svom zadatku i ubrzanom rješavanju sudbine nestalih osoba», rekao je Milan Bogdanić, predsjedavajući Kolegija direktora INO-a. «Naš cilj je i uspostavljanje centralne baze podataka nestalih osoba, a u prilog predanosti tom zadatku svjedoči svakodnevno prisustvo istražitelja INO-a iz regionalnih i terenskih kancelarija prilikom obavljanja procjene pojedinačnih i masovnih grobnica.»

«Prizor kojem danas svjedočimo, u pećinama i kamenolomima u Hercegovini, užasno je naslijeđe sa kojim se suočavamo trinaest godina nakon okončanja sukoba u Bosni i Hercegovini», rekla je gospođica Kathryne Bomberger, generalna direktorica ICMP-a, «ali smo i svjedoci posvećenosti i sve veće sposobnosti INO-a da se suoči sa tim naslijeđem, čime pomažu ovoj zemlji da ostavi prošlost iza sebe i krene ka stvaranju nove stabilnosti.»

ICMP je suosnivač INO-a, koji je osnovan 2005. godine kao državna institucija, a preuzeo je dužnosti, zaposlenike i budžete entitetskih tijela za traženje nestalih. Rad INO-a također doprinosi i primjeni Zakona o nestalim osobama, koji pomaže u zaštiti prava porodica nestalih osoba.

U pratnji članova Kolegija direktora INO-a Milana Bogdanića, Marka Jurišića i Amora Mašovića su bili gospođica Kathryne Bomberger, generalna direktorica ICMP-a, Caroline Ravaud, specijalna predstavnica generalnog sekretara Vijeća Evrope, Njegova ekselencija Charles L. English, Ambasador SAD-a u Bosni i Hercegovini i gospodin Henry Fournier, šef Delegacije Međunarodnog komiteta crvenog krsta za Bosnu i Hercegovinu (MKCK).[:ar][:es][:]

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