CONFERENCE ON MISSING PERSONS, THEIR FAMILIES HELD IN OSIJEK

OSIJEK, Dec 8 (Hina) - A conference on persons gone missing during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and their families' human rights was held in Osijek on Sunday on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, December 10. #L# The event was organised by the Osijek-Baranja County branch of Croatia's Association of Families of Missing and Abducted War Veterans and held under the auspices of the Sarajevo-based International Commission on Missing Persons. The pain families feel for their missing relatives has not diminished after 11 years of deep uncertainty, said Association president Stefica Krstic. "There is less and less understanding for the right of the families of the missing to find out the truth," she said. Eastern Croatia's Osijek-Baranja County is still tracing 108 persons. To date the remains of 210 have been exhumed of which 149 have been identified, while the entire Croatia is looking for 1,334 missing persons, said Krstic. Zvonko Knezovic of the Zagreb Faculty of Philosophy and long-term member of the Croatian government's Commission on War Victims said the Commission in 1996 drew up a comprehensive study on families of missing and imprisoned veterans. Many families had hope at that time but today the situation is different as almost all hope is gone that the missing might be alive, he said. (hina) ha