On 04 September, the Forensic Anthropologist of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), Luísa Marinho, talked about her experience in conducting forensic examinations and in searching for missing persons in an interview to Serbeze Haxhiaj for the Blog Series “The Gravesites Accuse: Forensic Examiners Digging to Find the Missing in Kosovo,” published on forumZFD’s (Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst) “Dealing with the Past” platform.

In her interview, Marinho shares the professional and emotional challenges linked to the demanding tasks of a forensic anthropologist.

“You cannot remain indifferent or cold, because you feel the same anger or pain like the families surrounding you,” Marinho says, adding how the hardest part of her job is dealing with bodies or remains of children: “When you deal with older people, you realize it is a process of life. With children though, no matter how much you try to close the door on the emotions, you feel the pain for that life cut violently.”

As EULEX’s forensic anthropologist embedded within the Kosovo Institute of Forensic Medicine, Marinho’s work supports the Mission’s engagement in shedding light on the fate of missing persons from the Kosovo war and its aftermath.

In her interview, Marinho also highlights how, once the remains of an identified missing person are handed over to the family, this may seem as a “closed” case, but it doesn’t mean that justice has been served: “That does not mean justice for the victim or the family. You cannot say it is a closed case for them.”

Link to the interview: https://dwp-balkan.org/6803-2/