Identification of skeletal remains in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the homeland war – a 30-year review

Abstract

Over the past 30 years, forensic experts from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have embraced advanced technologies and innovations to enable great efficacy and proficiency in the identification of war victims. The war-time events in the countries of former Yugoslavia greatly influenced the application of the selected DNA analyses as routine tools for the identification of skeletal remains, especially those from mass graves. Initially, the work was challenging because of the magnitude of the events, technical aspects, and political aspects. Collaboration with reputable foreign forensic experts helped tremendously in the efforts to start applying DNA analysis routinely and with increasing success. In this article, we reviewed the most significant achievements related to the application of DNA analysis in identifying skeletal remains in situations where standard identification methods were insufficient.