Albanian Post: With the Missing Persons Agreement, Kosovo has lost the opportunity to sue Serbia for genocide

The Declaration on Missing Persons adopted by Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on May 2 in Brussels does not include the term "enforced disappearances" but rather "forcibly disappeared," which is a terminology outside of international conventions and cannot be used to seek compensation for victims, Albanian Post writes.

According to international law professor Mazllum Baraliu, the Declaration on Missing Persons is a compromise between the two sides.

"The statement uses the term 'forcibly disappeared' instead of 'enforced disappearances,' which is a compromise that both sides have accepted. The government was not persistent enough in this aspect," Baraliu said.

According to Baraliu, with the Declaration adopted in this way, Kosovo will have a problem pursuing the planned lawsuit against Serbia for genocide.

"But the courts will decide on that, so time will tell how it will be evaluated in case of any disputes before the court," he added.

Former President of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo Enver Hasani believes that by adopting the Declaration on Missing Persons, Kosovo has become equal to Serbia, and therefore Belgrade is no longer responsible for missing persons during the last war in Kosovo.

The Serbian side stated that the term "enforced disappearances" had been removed since the agreement between Besnik Bislimi and Petar Petkovic, but the Kosovo government claimed that it was just Serbian propaganda and that the term remained.

The reason for the significant importance of the terminology used is also in the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Article 24 of this convention refers to reparation for victims, more precisely, point 4 of Article 24 states that "each State shall ensure in its legal system that the victims of enforced disappearance have the right to obtain reparation."

With the terminology used in the agreement as "forcibly disappeared" rather than "enforced disappearances" as defined by the Convention, compensation cannot be sought.