The Ombudsperson, Mr. Naim Qelaj visited on Wednesday the exhibition dedicated to children killed during the war, in the library “Hivzi Sylejmani” in Pristina, accompanied by Mr. Bekim Blakaj, executive director of the Humanitarian Law Center in Kosovo, who is also the creator of this exhibition.

Mr. Qelaj congratulated the Fund for the work done with this exhibition and said that it conveys many messages to society but also to local and international institutions.

He said the exhibition is a call for war crimes to be taken more seriously so that victims can find justice so that they can find spiritual and moral comfort. He stressed that in this regard local institutions have failed and today they can not be justified for the lack of competencies but concrete actions must be taken to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.

The Ombudsperson said that the Institution he leads will be engaged to launch an investigation to see how much the rights of victims have been respected in terms of human rights as well as the rights guaranteed by international conventions. He added that it is the last moment that more work needs to be done by offering justice to the victims and clarifying the fate of the missing persons.

Also, Mr. Qelaj stressed that this exhibition should take a deserving place by creating a museum and institutions should offer solutions to this issue.

Mr. Bekim Blakaj thanked Mr. Qelaj for the visit and said that he hopes that the cooperation with the Ombudsperson’s Institution will continue in the future.

The exhibition “Once Upon a Time and Never Again” is dedicated to the killing of children during the war in Kosovo and presents children’s clothes, toys and books. The exhibition opened on May 13, 2019, curated by Blerta Hoçia, is in memory of the 1133 children killed as a result of the war in Kosovo 1998-2000. Of these, 109 are still considered missing persons.