Mavric: Questions about war damage have no place in the population census

Negovan Mavric, Coordinator of the Missing Persons Resource Center, believes that there may be an intention to use the population census in Kosovo, which also collects data on war damage, for political and other purposes.

"It is known how a census is conducted, it counts the population and not damage, but unfortunately, someone probably wants to use this census for political purposes. I assume this is being done deliberately to accuse Serbia based on the census," Mavric says for Kosovo Online.

He points out that the census, when it comes to war damage or missing and killed persons, only recognizes the period from February 1998 to June 1999, while it is well known that Serbs suffered until the end of 2000.

"This is that political game. Serbs suffered much more after the arrival of the peace mission in Kosovo, and that period is not covered by the census form. Also, when you see that the census includes sections about kidnapped or killed individuals, that is no longer a population census because those issues are dealt with by others. Everyone thinks that these questions have no place in this census," Mavric says, adding that people still don't know what to do, whether to participate in the census or not.

He also mentions that his family suffered a loss, but that it will not be registered in this census.

"My brother was kidnapped in the center of Orahovac on October 12, 1999, but the census does not cover that period," Mavric says.