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Bosnia and Hercegovina Narrowing the Impunity Gap Trials before Bosnia’s War Crimes Chamber This 61-page report evaluates the chamber’s work in conducting trials. Although a relatively new institution, the chamber has made substantial headway in trying cases, including the trial of 11 defendants charged with genocide for their role in the Srebrenica massacre. Other important accomplishments include introducing support for witnesses in the pre-indictment phase and establishing an effective defense office committed to assisting defendants in trials before the chamber. HRW Index No.: D1901 February 12, 2007 Also available in 
Download PDF, 406 KB, 58 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book Weighing the Evidence Lessons from the Slobodan Milosevic Trial This 76-page report examines key evidence introduced at trial, the most comprehensive account to date of the conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. The report finds that the trial revealed how leaders in Belgrade and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia financed the wars; how they provided material to Croatian and Bosnian Serbs; and how they created administrative and personnel structures to support the Croatian Serb and Bosnian Serb armies. The report traces the mechanisms, some of which were previously secret, by which Belgrade fueled the conflicts. HRW Index No.: D1810 December 14, 2006 Also available in 
Download PDF, 339 KB, 80 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book A Chance for Justice? War Crime Prosecutions in Bosnia’s Serb Republic This 42-page report describes the increased momentum towards war crimes trials at the end of 2005, and the opportunity created by the transfer of cases from the new War Crimes Chamber in Sarajevo. It also documents the obstacles to sustained progress on fair and effective prosecutions, including limited prosecutorial resources and insufficient assistance by Republika Srpska police. HRW Index No.: D1803 March 16, 2006 Also available in
Download PDF, 317 KB, 44 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book Looking for Justice The War Crimes Chamber in Bosnia and Herzegovina In March 2005, the War Crimes Chamber began operations within Bosnia’s State Court to try cases of serious war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina that could not be prosecuted within the mandate or timeframe of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The chamber will also handle serious war crimes cases initiated locally. This 44-page report evaluates the initial phase of the chamber, identifies achievements, and makes recommendations on how to improve the chamber’s operations. HRW Index No.: D1801 February 8, 2006 Also available in
Download PDF, 309 KB, 46 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book Justice at Risk: War Crimes Trials in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia and Montenegro This 31-page report examines domestic war crimes trials that have taken place since 2000 for crimes committed during the armed conflicts of the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia. Human Rights Watch has also monitored various of these trials. HRW Index No.: D1607 October 14, 2004 Also available in 
Download PDF, 318 KB, 34 pgs Purchase online Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Topical Digests of the Case Law of the ICTR and the ICTY This 285-page book organizes the tribunals’ decisions by topic, including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, individual criminal responsibility, command responsibility and sentencing. HRW Index No.: 1564322955 February 20, 2004 Download PDF, 996 KB, 285 pgs Purchase online Broken Promises Impediments to Refugee Return to Croatia Eight years after the end of the war in Croatia, ethnic discrimination continues to impede the return of hundreds of thousands of Croatian Serbs displaced by the war. This 61-page report describes the plight of displaced Croatian Serbs and urges that progress on return be made a condition of Croatia’s application to join the European Union. The report is based on two years of research involving a comprehensive review of local legislation and extensive interviews with returned refugees, temporary occupants of their houses, and representatives of Serb civic associations, national and local governmental bodies, international organizations, and Croatian human rights groups. The report includes recommendations to the Croatian government and the international community to facilitate the return of Serb refugees. HRW Index No.: D1506 September 3, 2003 Download PDF Purchase online Hopes Betrayed Trafficking of Women and Girls To Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina for Forced Prostitution Traffickers who have forced thousands of women and girls into prostitution in Bosnia and Herzegovina are not being apprehended for their crimes. Local corruption and the complicity of international officials in Bosnia have allowed a trafficking network to flourish, in which women are tricked, threatened, physically assaulted and sold as chattel, the report said. The 75-page report, “Hopes Betrayed: Trafficking of Women and Girls to Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina for Forced Prostitution,” documents how local Bosnian police officers facilitate the trafficking by creating false documents; visiting brothels to partake of free sexual services; and sometimes engaging in trafficking directly. HRW Index No.: D1409 November 26, 2002 Download PDF Purchase online Bosnia-Herzegovina: Child Soldier Global Report 2001 From the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska each retain their own separate armed forces and defence legislation and allow recruitment under the age of 18. The Federation’s legislation also allows the compulsory recruitment of 16 year olds in times of emergency. During the civil war, children as young as 10 were reported to have participated in hostilities. June 12, 2001 Bosnia and Hercegovina: Landmine Monitor Report 2000 Key developments since March 1999: BiH's Mine Action Center (BHMAC) reported approximately 3.7 million square meters of land were cleared of mines in 1999 and 573,229 square meters surveyed. Mine casualties have decreased significantly, from a high of sixty-nine mine victims per month in 1994, to an average of eight per month in 1999; there were ninety-four new victims in 1999, or 37% fewer than in 1998. BiH completed destruction of its antipersonnel mine stockpile in November 1999, destroying 460,727 mines. August 1, 2000 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. HRW Index No.: D1207 May 1, 2000 Purchase online "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. HRW Index No.: D1006 July 1, 1998 Purchase online 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. HRW Index No.: D1005 June 1, 1998 Purchase online 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. HRW Index No.: D909 August 1, 1997 Purchase online 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. HRW Index No.: D901 January 1, 1997 Purchase online 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.” HRW Index No.: D817 December 1, 1996 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. HRW Index No.: D815 September 1, 1996 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. HRW Index No.: D812 August 1, 1996 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. HRW Index No.: D808 June 1, 1996 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 HRW Index No.: D802 March 1, 1996 |
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