BOSNIA AND HERCEGOVINA

World Report 2001 Entry

World Report 2000 Entry

World Report 1999 Entry

World Report 1998 Entry

Bosnia and Hercegovina -- Unfinished Business: Return of Displaced Persons and Other Human Rights Issues in Bijeljina
More than four and a half years after the war ended in Bosnia and Hercegovina, many ethnic minorities are still unable to repossess their homes in the Bosnian Serb town of Bijeljina, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.  An estimated 27,000 out of a pre-war population of 30,000  non-Serbs were expelled from  Bijeljina during the war. Only a  limited number have returned  to the town, in part because  their houses are occupied by  Bosnian Serbs and Serb  refugees from elsewhere in the  former Yugoslavia. In certain cases, the police, some of whom  are themselves occupying Bosniak houses, have actively  discouraged returnees by "warning" them that their safety could  not be guaranteed, and "advising" them not to return.  In this report, Human Rights Watch documents how the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the war in Bosnia and Hercegovina, has not succeeded in restoring a multi-ethnic society. Instead, the authorities in Bijeljina continue to obstruct the implementation of the Dayton agreement, providing neither protection nor equal rights to the Bosniak community of Bijeljina, while actively deterring the return of Bosniaks who were driven from the city during the war.
(D1207) 5/00, 77pp, $7.00
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Bosnia and Hercegovina -- "A Dark and Closed Place" - Past & Present H. R. Abuses in Foca
The Foca municipality was the site of some of the most brutal crimes committed during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Hercegovina. Bosnian Serb civilian, police, and military officials established a wartime government called the "Crisis Committee," much like those established in many towns in Bosnian Serb-controlled territory, to plan and carry out the expulsion of the non-Serb population. Using a thorough propaganda campaign, the Crisis Committee established a network of detention centers, where non-Serb civilians were detained, tortured, raped, and either expelled, killed, or "disappeared," leaving the town as it is today, almost completely ethnically Serb. The persons alleged by many sources to be responsible for the crimes committed in Foca during the war continue to wield power in the town. In many cases, they are in governmental or police positions. In other cases, they hold even higher-ranking positions in the Republika Srpska or Bosnian government. In these positions they may have been identified by international observers as responsible for protracted noncompliance with the provisions of the Dayton Accords, as well as systematic human rights abuses in the post-war period.
(D1006) 7/98, 69pp., $7.00
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Bosnia and Hercegovina -- Beyond Restraint - Politics & the Policing Agenda of the UN International Police Task Force
The United Nations mission to Bosnia and Hercegovina-with over 2,000 international police monitors-has the opportunity to make an important contribution to lasting peace and respect for human rights in the country. The U.N. International Police Task Force (IPTF) is assigned responsibility for building a democratic police force in the country, one that protects human rights rather than one that shelters human rights abusers. As part of this process, IPTF monitors, who are charged with investigating and documenting police abuses, have a crucial role to play in identifying police officers who have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, or other serious human rights abuses and ensuring that these officers are removed from the police force. The overall fate of the United Nations mission in Bosnia and Hercegovina depends to a large extent on the IPTF's ability to vigorously address human rights issues.
(D1005) 6/98, 33pp., $5.00
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Bosnia and Hercegovina -- Politics of Revenge: The Misuse of Authority in Bihac, Cazin, and Velika Kladusa
The Una Sana canton, a province in northwestern Bosnia, is currently controlled by the SDA, with officials loyal to the SDA dominating almost all aspects of government, including law enforcement, public utilities and medical and educational institutions, and the economy. The international community has focused relatively little attention on the Una Sana canton because, in contrast to other regions of Bosnia and Hercegovina, the human rights abuses committed there are generally motivated by partisan politics rather than ethnic chauvinism. This report provides evidence that human rights abuses against opponents of Alija Izetbegovic's Party of Democratic Action (Stranka Demokratske Akcije, SDA) have become a cornerstone of the local government's policy and practice in Bihac, Cazin, and Velika Kladu_a, and that this policy is consistent with the SDA's increasingly nationalistic ideology.
(D909) 8/97, 44 pp., $5.00
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THE UNINDICTED
Reaping the Rewards of “Ethnic Cleansing” in Prijedor
The same warlords who took control of the town of Prijedor, in northwestern Bosnia and Hercegovina, through systematic policies of ethnic cleansing—including pre-meditated slaughter, concentration camps, mass rape, and the takeover of businesses, government offices, and all communal property—have retained total control over key economic, infrastructure, and humanitarian sectors of the community in the post-war period. The architects of “ethnic cleansing,” many of whom are under investigation by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, interact daily with representatives of international organizations. This contact grants them a wholly undeserved legitimacy, given that they achieved their positions by “disappearing” the duly elected mayor of the town, Muhamed Cehajic, and thousands of other Bosniak or Bosnian Croat community leaders and citizens. While international attention has rightly focused on the atrocities committed during and after the takeover of the town, little attention has been given to the fact that the mayor, deputy mayor, police chief, hospital director and director of the local “Red Cross” got away with their crimes and became rich men in the process, having expropriated businesses, homes, and other assets of the non-Serbs of the community, estimated to be worth several billion German marks.
View the summary and recommendations of this report.
(D901) 1/97, 76 pp., $7.00/£5.95
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THE CONTINUING INFLUENCE OF BOSNIA’S WARLORDS
The human rights abuses that constitute “ethnic cleansing” are still being used to intimidate and harass ethnic minorities in Bosnia-Hercegovina in the post-Dayton period. This has been observed by and is well known to the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR), international monitoring organizations and the governments that have sponsored the Dayton Peace Agreement. By opting to remain silent about many of the abuses and the identity of the abusers, the international community has become complicit in the continuation of serious human rights abuses and the final stages of “ethnic cleansing.” Many of those who incited ethnic and nationalist hatred and were responsible for the massive atrocities committed during the war remain in power today. This is particularly true in the Republika Srpska (RS), where the control and influence of persons responsible for massive violations of human rights and humanitarian law during the war, increase the chances that human rights abuses will continue to be carried out in a systematic fashion until Republika Srpska is ethnically “clean.”
View the summary and recommendations of this report.
(D817) 12/96, 47 pp., $5.00/£2.95
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NO JUSTICE NO PEACE
The United Nations International Police Task Force’s Role in Screening Local Law Enforcement
The United Nations International Police Task Force (IPTF) faces a crucial test, with little time remaining. From the international community it needs the necessary resources and political support to accomplish its goals: vetting the local police of Bosnia-Hercegovina and ensuring that they are respectful of human rights and free of officers implicated in past "ethnic cleansing." If there is to be long-term peace and respect for fundamental human rights in Bosnia-Hercegovina, those who carried out serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law during the war must be removed from positions of power and held accountable for their abusive conduct.
View the summary and recommendations of this report.
(D815) 9/96, 16 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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UPDATE: NON-COMPLIANCE WITH THE DAYTON ACCORDS
Ongoing Ethnically-Motivated Expulsions and Harassment in Bosnia
The ethnically-motivated intimidation, mistreatment and expulsions of civilians that were the hallmark of the war in Bosnia and Hercegovina have continued since the signing of the Dayton agreement. Those ethnic minorities who have remained in their homes have come under increasing pressure in recent months to leave. Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat political leaders have not given up on their war goal of ethnically pure states — a goal that fueled much of the violence of the last four years. The Bosnian government of Alija Izetbegovic appears to have given up on the idea of a multi-ethnic Bosnia, opting instead to embrace both the goals and some of the means of its adversaries. Ethnically-motivated harassment of civilians continues to be motivated by local and national politician who maintain the political goal of “ethnically pure” states.
View the introduction and recommendations of this report.
(D812) 8/96, 17 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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A FAILURE IN THE MAKING
Human Rights & the Dayton Agreement
This report warns that the failure of the Dayton Peace Accord will be inevitable, and the U.S. and West European governments will bear responsibility, unless immediate and decisive steps are taken to enforce respect for human rights, ensure the right to return for refugees and displaced persons, establish the conditions necessary for free and fair elections, and bring to justice those responsible for war crimes.
View the introduction and recommendations of this report.
(D808) 6/96, 37 pp., $5.00/£2.95
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HUMAN RIGHTS IN BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA
POST DAYTON: Challenges for the Field
The Dayton accord offered the promise of a lasting peace because it incorporated both military enforcement and strong mechanisms to protect human rights and ensure accountability for past abuses, including the High Representative, the International Police Task Force, the OSCE's human rights and election monitoring mission, and the Office of the Ombudsperson. To date, however, each has encountered significant obstacles, including unclear mandates, imprecise operating and reporting guidelines, a tendency to minimize their own responsibility and authority for the safety and security of civilians, and serious problems in the training and deployment of field staff.
View the summary and recommendations of this report.
(D802) 3/96, 10 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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Human Rights Abuses during
a Cease-Fire and Peace Negotiations
Areas of northwestern Bosnia under Bosnian Serb control were the site of a brutal endgame of “ethnic cleansing,” murder, and rape, even as a cease-fire and the Dayton accord were negotiated. In the fall of 1995, more than 6,000 non-Serbs were systematically and brutally driven from their homes. At least 2,000 non-Serb draft-age males were separated from their families and taken to unknown locations. Many were still missing; some believed dead, others remained in detention and forced labor. According to witnesses, Bosnian Serb forces were assisted in attacks against non-Serbs by brutal paramilitary group led by Zeljko Raznatovic, a.k.a Arkan”—a force supported by the Serbian government.
View the summary and recommendations of this report.
(D801) 2/96, 40 pp., $5.00/£2.95
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The Fall of Srebrenica
and the Failure of U.N. Peacekeeping
The fall of the town of Srebrenica to Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995 made a mockery of the international community's professed commitment to safeguard regions it declared to be “safe areas.” U.N. peacekeeping officials were unwilling to heed requests for support from their own forces stationed within the enclave, thus allowing Bosnian Serb forces to easily overrun it and—without interference from U.N. soldiers—to carry out systematic, mass executions of hundreds, possibly thousands, of civilian men and boys and to terrorize, rape, beat, execute, rob and otherwise abuse civilians being deported.
View the summary and recommendations of this report.
(D713) 10/95, 58 pp., $7.00/£5.95
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“Ethnic Cleansing” Continues in Northern Bosnia
In July 1994, the campaign to expel non-Serbs from Bosnian Serb-held areas of northern Bosnia accelerated. Most of those being displaced came from the northwestern and northeastern parts of the country. The “ethnic cleansing” that took place in those regions is different from that which characterized “ethnic cleansing” at the start of the Bosnian war in 1992, for there is no war being waged. The systematic persecution of Muslims, Croats, Romas (Gypsies) and others has taken place in areas that have long been under absolute Bosnian Serb control; indeed, the sweeping institutional nature of the "cleansing" would not be possible without such control.
(D616) 11/94, 36 pp., $5.00/£2.95
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SARAJEVO
Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Hercegovina, has become a stark symbol of both the strengths and the depravities of human nature. The dignity and resourcefulness of Sarajevans who have survived a siege of more than 900 days stands in bold contrast to the atrocities that have been committed in the savage war against civilians that continues, unending, in Bosnia-Hercegovina. This report offers painfully vivid testimony from a number of victims of the siege.
(D615) 10/94, 31 pp., $5.00/£2.95
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WAR CRIMES IN BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA
U.N. Cease-Fire Won't Help Banja Luka
Banja Luka, the second largest city in Bosnia-Hercegovina after Sarajevo, is the scene of much of the most severe and systematic “ethnic cleansing”: torture, murder, rape, beatings, harassment, de jure discrimination, intimidation, expulsion from homes, confiscation of property, bombing of businesses, dismissal from work, outlawing of all scripts except the Cyrillic in public institutions, and the destruction of cultural objects such as mosques and Catholic churches.
(D608) 6/94, 38 pp., $5.00/£2.95
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WAR CRIMES IN BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA
Bosanski Samac
In detailing gross violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Bosanski Samac, this report identifies six war criminals — known as Stevo Todorovic, Slavko and Makso, Goran, Lugar, and Cika Tralija — and calls for immediate action by the international tribunal on war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.
(D605) 4/94, 19 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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Abuses by Bosnian Croat and Muslim Forces
in Central and Southwestern Bosnia-Hercegovina
All-out war broke out between the Bosnian Muslims and Croats in early May 1993 in central and southwestern Bosnia-Hercegovina. Both Croatian and Muslim forces have been guilty of serious abuses — they have deliberately executed civilians and disarmed combatants, arbitrarily arrested individuals belonging to the opposite ethnic group, mistreated prisoners in detention, and forced the displacement of tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of persons.
(D518) 9/93, 17 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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WAR CRIMES IN BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA (VOLUME II)
Helsinki Watch has been monitoring human rights abuses and violations of the laws of war in both Croatia and Bosnia- Hercegovina since the conflict began two years ago. The original volume in this series documented the appalling brutality inflicted on the civilian population and called on the U.N. Security Council to take appropriate steps to prevent and suppress genocide and to establish an international war crimes tribunal to try and punish those responsible for crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia. While the proposal for a war crimes tribunal has gained some momentum, international efforts have focussed mainly on the need to deliver humanitarian aid to those besieged. Little or nothing has been done to end the intense bombardment of the areas under siege or to stop the systematic process of “ethnic cleansing.” Despite the weighty evidence contained in these reports and other evidence that has been presented to the United Nations, extreme abuses continue in Bosnia-Hercegovina without respite. In short, no effective actions have been taken to end the suffering and the world's nations as parties to the Genocide Convention and the U.N. as its sponsor have utterly failed in meeting their treaty obligations to take appropriate measures to stop genocide.
(0979) 4/93, 460 pp., 1-56432-097-9, $20.00/£14.95
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WAR CRIMES IN BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA (VOLUME I)
Full-scale war, marked by appalling brutality inflicted on the civilian population and extreme violations of international humanitarian law, has been raging in Bosnia-Hercegovina since early April 1992. Mistreatment in detention, the taking of hostages and the pillaging of civilian property is widespread. The most basic safeguards intended to protect civilians and medical facilities have been flagrantly ignored. The indiscriminate use of force by Serbian troops has caused excessive collateral damage and loss of civilian life. A policy of “ethnic cleansing” has resulted in the summary execution, disappearance, arbitrary detention, deportation and forcible displacement of hundreds of thousands of people on the basis of their religion or nationality. In sum, the extent of the violence and the fact that it is targeted along ethnic/religious lines raise the question of whether genocide is taking place.
(0839) 8/92, 368 pp., ISBN 1-56432-083-9, $20.00/£14.95
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