During the armed conflicts of the 1990s in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, approximately 40,000 people went missing, and around 11,000 are still being searched for, according to data from the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). Bosnia and Herzegovina registers the highest number of missing persons (around 7,500), followed by Croatia (around 1,725) and the southern Serbian Province (around 1,600).
According to reliable sources from the territory of the former Yugoslavia, more than 4,000 exhumed human remains from the 1990s wars have not yet been identified (around 3,000 in BiH, around 900 in the Republic of Croatia, and around 300 in Kosovo and Metohija). If all exhumed remains were identified, the total number of missing persons would decrease by more than a third.
The website of the Directorate for Detainees and Missing Persons, operating under the Croatian Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs, states that the Republic of Croatia is still searching for 1,725 persons missing from the “Homeland War,” which also includes the territory of the former Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK). The Croatian side relies on data from the latest Book of Missing Persons in the Territory of Croatia, published by the ICRC in 2015, which recorded 2,138 unresolved fates in Croatia as of May 1, 2015.
In the Database of Active Cases of Missing Persons from Conflicts in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia, at the time of its publication (2022), around 2,200 entries pertained to the territory of Croatia and the RSK, half of which matched the records of “Veritas.”
As of today, according to “Veritas” data, among the 8,630 registered Serb victims from the 1990s war in Croatia and the former RSK—including members of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and volunteers—there are 1,462 individuals whose fates remain unresolved. Among them are 1,053 (72%) civilians and 403 (28%) women. The highest number went missing during the last year of the war – 726 (49%), followed by the first year – 581 (40%).
However, more than a third of the individuals on this list are not included in the aforementioned Book of Missing Persons for Croatia, and more than a quarter are missing from the aforementioned Database of Active Cases of Missing Persons from Conflicts in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia.
Since 2000, a total of 1,700 human remains of Serbs from Croatia and the former RSK—including those who lived with them and fought on their side—have been exhumed from joint, mass, and individual graves, including exhumations organized by the families themselves. Out of this number, 1,363 human remains have been identified so far, while 337 are still awaiting identification.
VERITAS currently holds information on dozens of confirmed and potential burial sites containing around 200 human remains in the territory of Croatia, mostly buried under the label “unknown.” Even thirty years after the end of the war, these remains are still awaiting exhumation due solely to obstruction from the Croatian side.
The families of missing persons have the right to know the truth about the fate of their loved ones, and society has a legal and moral obligation to assist them in their search. This is only possible through the active cooperation of the families of the missing with competent organizations and institutions.
The International Day of the Disappeared is an opportunity to remind the public of the suffering and pain endured by the families of the missing. It is also a call to families to fulfill their own obligation—to open an official search request and provide blood samples for DNA testing, without which no search can be successful.
Belgrade/Banja Luka, August 29, 2026
Information Service of the DIC “Veritas”
