I join the Chairman in welcoming our witnesses and the audience to today’s hearing of the Helsinki Commission, which will focus on the issue of missing persons in Southeast Europe.

As a member of the Commission, I have carefully followed developments in this region of Europe. Most of my efforts have focused on encouraging cooperation with international efforts to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide which took place in parts of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Justice, however, is not simply an end in itself; the trials held in The Hague and now domestically bring some closure to those surviving victims of brutal ethnic cleansing campaigns. Justice allows victims and their families to move on, rebuild and, we hope, help keep a tragic period of history from repeating itself.

Locating and identifying missing persons can accomplish this same end. For those who have relatives that disappeared during conflict, the desire to know what happened to their missing loved ones must be overwhelming. The unknown often perpetuates and exacerbates the suffering they have already experienced during the conflict. Like justice, knowing the fate of missing loved ones can help bring closure to surviving friends and family.

The international community must make the effort to resolve missing persons cases a priority. The International Commission for Missing Persons and other organizations leading the search and providing counseling to families deserve strong support. The non-governmental organizations composed of surviving family members – like those represented by our witnesses today – also deserve our support. By working together, these families can help each other cope with tragedy and rebuild a society torn by conflicts in which civilian populations were primarily and intentionally targeted.

I look forward to hearing the testimony of our panel of witnesses this morning, and to learn what more the Helsinki Commission can do to ensure that answers are found to the questions they and the families they represent have regarding missing relatives.