Archive for the ‘Bosnia and Herzegovina’ Category
(Brussels) – The opening of the trial of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb wartime military commander, is a salient reminder that justice catches up with those accused of atrocity crimes.
(Sarajevo) – Roma, Jews, and other national minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina remain excluded from participation in national politics 20 years after war began, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Bosnia needs to remove ethnic discrimination against national minorities from its constitution, laws, and public institutions, Human Rights Watch said.
(New York)– Countries that want to prosecute atrocity crimes can learn from Bosnia’s experience with its War Crimes Chamber, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
(London) – The Bosnian parliament’s move on October 13, 2011, to amend the constitution to allow members of minority groups to run for high public office is a positive step, Minority Rights Group International, Human Rights Watch, and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law Human Rights Program said today.
Justice has finally caught up with Ratko Mladic. The Bosnian Serb warlord, an alleged mastermind of some of the worst crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, including the Srebrenica genocide, is sitting in the United Nations detention unit in The Hague after nearly 16 years on the run.
Ratko Mladic’s transfer to The Hague on 31 May 2011 is a milestone for international criminal justice. The Serbian warlord’s forthcoming trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will cap what many regard as the most successful war-crimes court since Nuremburg.
At the beginning of August 1992, when I was Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, I issued a call for the establishment of an international criminal tribunal to try those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in the wars in the former Yugoslavia.
The rolling hills around Srebrenica seemed lovely that spring, 15 years ago-verdant, wooded, peaceful-save for the ugly flowering of protruding corpses in the green fields. The bodies offered proof that while flesh rots away quickly and cleanly, mass-produced jeans, T-shirts and jackets stand up well to the elements-not just visible, but almost wearable, nine months after the massacre.
With all of the situations before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Africa, it is not surprising that claims that international justice is targeting Africans resonate widely with some diplomats and commentators, and a segment of the general public.
(New York) – The arrest of notorious fugitive Ratko Mladic almost 16 years after his indictment for genocide shows that no one is beyond the reach of the law, Human Rights Watch said today.
For many in Europe, the western Balkans still evoke images of the brutal conflicts that followed the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The legacy of those wars continues to shape European Union and US policy toward the region.
(Brussels) – Efforts toward European integration for the Western Balkans are hampered by persistent human rights problems, Human Rights Watch said today.