Reports

A Difficult Profession

Media Freedom Under Attack in the Western Balkans

This 69-page report documents physical attacks and threats, including death threats, punitive lawsuits, and smear campaigns targeting journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia. The report is based on interviews with 86 journalists, most of whom report on sensitive issues such as war crimes and corruption, in the four Western Balkan countries. Human Rights Watch also documented several cases of cyberattacks against online media outlets critical of the governments. None of the countries are adequately investigating or prosecuting the attacks on journalists, Human Rights Watch found.

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  • Second Class Citizens

    Discrimination against Roma, Jews, and Other National Minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina

    This 62-page report highlights discrimination against Roma, Jews, and other national minorities in politics and government. Much of this discrimination stems from Bosnia’s 1995 Constitution, which mandates a system of government based on ethnicity and excludes these groups from high political office.

  • Justice for Atrocity Crimes

    Lessons of International Support for Trials before the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

    This 47-page report highlights key lessons from the involvement of international judges and prosecutors to boost national staff capacity to try sensitive and complex cases stemming from the 1992-1995 war.

  • Still Waiting

    Bringing Justice for War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Cantonal and District Courts

    This 47-page report calls for the government to investigate and prosecute those responsible for crimes committed during Nepal's armed conflict.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity

    A Topical Digest of the Case Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

    This unique 861-page book organizes the decisions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia by topic, including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, individual criminal responsibility, command responsibility, affirmative defenses, jurisdiction, sentencing, fair trial rights, guilty pleas and

  • 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.

  • 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).

  • "Safe Areas" for Srebrenica’s Most Wanted

    A Decade of Failure to Apprehend Karadzic and Mladic

    July 2005 marks the tenth anniversary of the killing of between 7,000 and 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

  • 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.

  • Q & A: Milosevic Trial (ICTY)

    Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic’s defense is scheduled to begin at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on August 31.

  • Trafficking in Women and Girls in Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Additional Documents

    Human Rights Watch submitted a number of requests to the U.S. government for documents relating to trafficking in persons in Bosnia pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. Two years after our initial request, we obtained a limited number of documents.

  • 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.

  • 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.