April 27 is Kosovo’s National Day of the Disappeared Persons. On this day, Albanians alongside families of the 1,641 people missing since 1998-99 Kosovo War demand justice for them, and remember thousands of victims killed by the Serbian state.
Whilst Serbia has refused to give information on the 1,641 disappeared persons, the murderers of thousands others – members of the Serbian army, police, and paramilitary forces – remain free.
The National Day of the Disappeared is commemorated on the anniversary of the Meja Massacre, where Serbian forces killed 376 Albanian men and boys on April 27, 1999, in a coordinated ethnic cleansing operation. 36 of the victims were children. This was the largest massacre during the Kosovo War. No one was ever indicted, despite many testimonies.
Photographer Artan Korenica has published an album of photos of the relatives of the disappeared, titled “Waiting”.
