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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  • 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.

  • Memorandum on Human Rights and Rule of Law Priorities in Yugoslavia

    The November 24-25 summit in Zagreb, with the participation of fifteen European Union (E.U.) states and Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia, provides a unique opportunity for the E.U.

  • 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.

  • "A Closed, Dark Place"

    Past and Present Human Rights 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.

  • 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.

  • Bosnian Serb Leader Comes to Washington

    Background Information Regarding Visit of Prime Minister Milorad Dodik, February 18-20, 1998

    Human Rights Watch has issued an open letter to Republika Srpska Prime Minister Milorad Dodik on his first official visit to the United States. He has come to Washington to discuss the terms of international financial assistance to the Republika Srpska (RS), one of the two entities of the Republic of 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 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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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,