Blakaj: Why wasn't an expert commission formed to collect data on the war damage?

Bekim Blakaj from the Humanitarian Law Center states that it is unprofessional to include sensitive issues like war victims and war damage in the population census in Kosovo. He emphasizes that people can arbitrarily claim to have suffered some material damage, and he doesn't see a mechanism in place to verify the data that will be collected.

"Multiple people could report the same property, for example, a house. Why not establish an expert commission to collect data on the war damage? In my opinion, the same individuals conducting the population census cannot carry out this task," Blakaj says for Kosovo Online.

He adds that in the form being filled out, there is a question about whether there is someone in the family who has been killed or gone missing. Regarding the missing people, he points out that there is an official list recognized by all sides.

"The civil society has documented lists of killed and missing persons for over 25 years, so why delve into something that could potentially create confusion and problems? These are the reasons why we at the Humanitarian Law Center of Kosovo disagree with conducting the census of war victims and war damage within the same project as the population census," Blakaj states.

Regarding the period covered by the census of war damage – from February 28, 1998, to June 11, 1999 – he says that civil society has been lobbying for years for that period to be from January 1, 1998, to December 31, 2000, thus including the post-war period when there were casualties.

"After all, in the official list of missing persons, all those who disappeared forcibly until the end of 2000 are recognized. So why list victims in a shorter period?" Blakaj questions.