Mass Grave Mapping: A Kosovar Case Study
Authors: Nunez, D.R., Schwandner-Sievers, S., Klinkner, M.
Publication Date: 01/01/2026
Pages: 159-180
DOI: 10.4324/9781003730064-12
Abstract:Mass graves are a salient legacy of the Balkan wars; they signify great loss, often following the commission of gross human rights violations or war crimes. Indeed, mass graves are complex sites where multiple perspectives converge, including humanitarian, forensic, legal, international, historical, cultural, social, and, above all, acutely personal ones. As part of a large-scale research project into the production of a global, open-source, digital map of mass graves, this chapter analyses the information collected and assembled for Kosovo. The data collated allow situating the Kosovar examination within a wider set of comparable cases: the effort and resources invested by the international community and in-country initiatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Kosovo to find and identify the victims of the 1990s Balkan wars were unprecedented. Yet the progress in the investigations surrounding mass graves seems to vary widely between these countries. In Kosovo, more than 25 years after the war, the publicly available evidence suggests that only a relatively small portion of such graves has been fully excavated and investigated. The findings point to a paucity in clear, accessible, and, above all, systematic information on mass graves in Kosovo. Moreover, our data reveal patterns in the way mass graves have been created, and subsequently engaged with, by authorities highlighting areas where renewed efforts for further information would be beneficial and would chime with the political determination by Kosovo and Serbia, as espoused in a joint 2023 Declaration, to address unresolved missing persons cases linked to the conflict.
Source: Scopus