MOSTAR, Jan 18 (Hina) - Human Rights Watch (HRW), the U.S. non-governmental organisation monitoring the human rights situation around the world, says in its latest annual report on Bosnia-Herzegovina that the country's Serb entity
does not cooperate with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague and that not one war crime has been prosecuted to date.
MOSTAR, Jan 18 (Hina) - Human Rights Watch (HRW), the U.S. non-
governmental organisation monitoring the human rights situation
around the world, says in its latest annual report on Bosnia-
Herzegovina that the country's Serb entity does not cooperate with
the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague and that not one war crime
has been prosecuted to date. #L#
"The authorities in Republika Srpska continued to refuse to
cooperate with the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia)," the 2002 report, published on the Internet,
says.
It adds that unlike the other entity, the Croat-Muslim federation,
the Serb republic has not prosecuted even one war crime.
HRW also recalls the shameful report by the Serb entity's office for
cooperation with the Hague tribunal regarding Srebrenica which
tried to falsify the number of the 1995 massacre's victims.
On the other hand, the filing of an indictment against former
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic for genocide in Bosnia is
described as a great success.
The HRW report also notes the three failed attempts to arrest
Bosnian Serb Radovan Karadzic and quotes the Hague tribunal's chief
prosecutor Carla Del Ponte as saying that the Stabilisation Force
arrests were "public relations operations".
Among the biggest incidents in terms of human rights violations in
2002, HRW notes the extradition of six Algerians sought for alleged
links to terrorism to the U.S. for which HRW accuses the United
States of "seriously undermin(ing) the rule of law".
HRW recalls numerous incidents against returnees to pre-war homes,
all of which occurred in Bosnian Serb municipalities. Despite that,
the number of minority returns in 2002's first eight months was 30
percent higher than in the same period in 2001.
According to the report, involvement in trafficking in humans and
forced prostitution represents a big blot on the U.N. Mission in
Bosnia.
As for the October 5 polls, at which HRW says nationalists won for
both the country's three -- two entity and one state -- parliaments
and the state presidency, they are described as successful,
primarily because they were organised by a permanent Bosnian
election commission.
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