Neier took part in an event marking the tenth anniversary of the Sarajevo Media Centre, a project which was strongly supported by the Soros Foundation during the war, and held a lecture on challenges faced by a society burdened by war crimes.
Neier presented a theory according to which responsibility and not reconciliation is the main idea which should be promoted after the numerous crimes that were committed in the former Yugoslavia, and that this was the main task of the Hague war crimes tribunal.
Conducting trials and passing verdicts before the Hague tribunal or any other court alone has no purpose if there is no acceptance of responsibility by those who with their actions or failure to act made it possible for political leaders and their executors to do what they did, he said.
We simply cannot be members of a society without accepting responsibility for what that society has done, Neier said, citing as examples Germany and Japan after World War II and the way the two countries faced responsibility for war crimes.
Commenting on the example of Germany, Neier said that possibly more important than the trial of the Nazi leaders in Nuremberg were the trials conducted later before other German courts.
There were almost 5,000 such trials, Neier said, recalling also the trial of Adolf Eichmann, which he said had helped generations of young Germans that were growing up in the 1960s to face again the crimes committed by their fathers and grandfathers.
Those trials brought a catharsis to Germany which changed from a sick society to one of the healthiest societies of today, Neier said.
Japan is the example of a country which failed to completely face its criminal past, Neier said, recalling that Japan was responsible for the death of almost ten million people, from China to the Philippines.
The decision of US military governor Douglas McArthur not to put Japanese Emperor Hirohito on trial for those crimes, but only his military commanders and some state officials, was a mistake and the final result of that fact is that Japan's current Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi prays without reluctance in a temple dedicated to some of the perpetrators of the gravest war crimes in Asia, Neier said.
This is why there is huge mistrust in Japan today, and China has announced that it will strongly oppose Japan's permanent membership in the UN Security Council. Germany's possible membership in the Security Council is not opposed by any member of the Security Council, Neier said.
What is necessary is developing a sense of justice and accepting collective political responsibility, he said.
It is important in that process to accept that crimes were committed, that information both about the victims and the criminals should be individualised, and that all responsible politicians and military leaders are put on trial, Neier said.