We are writing in advance of the informal Gymnich meeting of E.U. foreign ministers in Salzburg on March 10-11. We are pleased to note that relations with the Western Balkans will be high on the agenda of this meeting, with the stated objective to “reaffirm the E.U.’s goals and to agree on ways and means to reinforce the E.U.’s efforts in the region.” We wish to take the opportunity of this meeting to highlight a select number of pressing concerns which we believe the E.U. would be particularly well-placed to address as part of its engagement with these countries.

In advance of the report by their respective Presidents and Prosecutors on June 29, we write regarding the urgent situation at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

We are writing on the eve of your meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, to urge that you use this meeting as an opportunity to clarify that European Union (E.U.) membership negotiations with Croatia cannot start until full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Human Rights Watch writes to Secretary Powell to convey strong dismay over recent US government actions towards the International Criminal Court. This is an initiative that is likely to do far more harm to the United States than it could ever do to the court. This campaign is creating a legacy that will tar the Bush administration for years to come. With everything else taking place in the world today, the United States ought to adopt a wiser approach to the International Criminal Court.

We are writing to express our concern about the government of Croatia’s obstruction of the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Consistent with previous European Union (E.U.) demands, we hope that the E.U. will put the issue of cooperation high on its bilateral agenda with Croatia and specifically insist upon the surrender of indictees to the ICTY as a condition of further development of the relationship under the Stabilization and Association Agreement.

Human Rights Watch welcomes the recent decision by the Croatian government to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the arrest and surrender to the tribunal of two Croatian citizens covered by sealed indictments.

Human Rights Watch is a privately funded international non-governmental organization dedicated to documenting human rights abuses throughout the world. In the past ten years, we have committed substantial time and effort to investigating violations of human rights and humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia. We have documented violations of international humanitarian law by all sides of the armed conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and the NATO war with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In a letter to Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica Human Rights Watch presents itself as a privately funded international non-governmental organization dedicated to documenting human rights abuse throughout the world.