Thank you, Madame Chair,

I would like to start by thanking Switzerland for organizing this Arria formula meeting, and the briefers for their insightful remarks.

Albania aligns itself with the statement delivered by the European Union and by Luxembourg on behalf of the core group. In my national capacity, I would like to add the following:

• Albania welcomes this timely meeting which acknowledges the fifth anniversary of the first-ever SC resolution dealing specifically with the situation of persons disappeared in armed conflict.
• Today, 5 years after the adoption of the resolution 2474 we remain concerned, as many other MS,  that the number of such cases worldwide is showing no signs of abating. That is why the call of the resolution on prevention, search and investigation of those cases, remain today as relevant as 5 years before.
• Today is time to reterate our call on all states to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law and protect all persons from enforced disapperances and from going missing during armed conflicts. The resolution is clear that it is a state obligation to prevent, to search for the disappeared, to recover, identify the dead and  to return their remains, as well as to ensure thorough, prompt, impartial and effective investigations and prosecution of enforced disaperances and other offences linked to missing persons due to armed conflict.
• Albania fully supports the ICRC efforts and work in providing answers to the families of hundred thousands missing persons world-wide.

Madame Chair,

• We express our deep concern by the high number of children being abducted, killed and maimed in armed conflicts, especially in Ukraine, Africa and the Middle East. These acts are in flagrant violation of the Convention of the Right of the Child and an extreme form of violation of their rights as described in the International Convention for Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
• We are also worried about the impact the situation of the missing persons in armed conflicts is having on women’s rights. Women may be victims when they are subject of disappearance themselves or as individuals who have suffered harm as the direct result of an disappearance. When women are victims of enforced disappearances themselves, they are particularly vulnerable to sexual and other forms of violence. Women are most severely affected by economic, social and legal difficulties which generally arise after their relative’s disappearance, in particular when women have to support their family in circumstances of great vulnerability.

Madame Chair,

• By the time this resolution was approved the former President of the ICRC said: “Every time someone goes missing, families wait for answers.”
• In Kosovo, Mother Ferdonije Qerkezi prepares her table for 6 persons, while she is the only one living in her house. 5 other members of her family, the husband and 4 sons were forcibly disappeared by Serbian forces during the war in Kosova. After 25 years Mother Ferdonije is not expecting any more her loved ones will return, but she still keeps putting food on their plates to keep their memory alive, as she hopes their remains will be found and return to her. This is the ultimate hope of the families of over 1600 persons remains unaccounted for in Kosovo.
• The focus of UNSCR 2474 on searching for the missing and returning the remains is an opportunity not only for the families of the victims but it is also a tool for reconciliation and confidence-building and of healing the wounds of conflicts and wars.
• As a country that firmly believes in transitional justice, Albania has welcomed the agreement on the missing persons between Kosova and Serbia reached last year in Brussels as facilitated by the European Union and encorages its full and unconditioned implementation.

I thank you.