Forensic clinical examinations in postwar kosovo

Kosovo is today a small nation in the Western Balkan and was till 1999 a province of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. After the NATO intervention in June 1999 the internal war ended and Kosovo was under the interim administration of the United Nations (UNIMIK). The 17th February 2008 Kosovo declared his independence becoming the Republic of Kosovo. In the post-conflict Kosovo exist today six main ethnic groups (Albanian, Serb, Bosniak, Roma, Turk, Gorani) and some ethnic minority groups (Balkan Egyptian, Croat, Ashkali) with an estimated population of 2.2. Mill. inhabitants in a country area of 10,908 Km2. From December 2008 EU has launched the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), the largest civilian mission ever launched under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The central aim is to assist and support the Kosovo authorities in the rule of law area, specifically in the police, judiciary and customs areas. The EULEX Mission in Kosovo is still going on in 2012 . We present the forensic clinical examinations performed in Kosovo during two periods:2003-2008 performed by the Medical Examiner’s Office (MEO) and the Office of Missing Persons and Forensics (OMPF) and collaboration with UNMIK international forensic doctors. Today the clinical forensic examinations are provided 24/7 for all the country and are performed in the DFM inside the area of University Hospital of Pristina. Clinical forensic examinations are performed under an official request of investigator/state prosecutor, without delay after receiving information of a case. The service is coordinated by two forensic nurses, who actively participate in interviewing patients before the forensic examination explaining to the patient the management of the visit, achieving a written consent to the visit and photography, recording in written form the history from patient and police officer, assisting in the clinical examination especially in cases of sexual assault victims and domestic violence, taking samples for forensic analysis from victims and/or suspect, translating for EULEX forensic doctors the history and the police/prosecutor official documents, taking and processing digital photos in absence of photograph and doing administrative work like recording the case for the DFM archive, keeping custody of reports (database and hand copies), handing over reports also for other forensic activities (autopsy, crime scene investigation, physical examination) as per court orders, preparing death certificates, ordering and keeping custody of medical and non medical materials.