NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Hina) - The assessment whether the ICTY has been successful or not primarily depends on whether Slobodan Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic will be brought to justice, said Croatia's Ambassador to the
United Nations, in New York on Monday.
NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Hina) - The assessment whether the ICTY has been
successful or not primarily depends on whether Slobodan Milosevic,
Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic will be brought to justice, said
Croatia's Ambassador to the United Nations, in New York on
Monday.#L#
Ambassador Ivan Simonovic took part in the resumption of the 55th
session of the UN General Assembly which held a discussion on a
report on the work of the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for
Former Yugoslavia).
"The key for the success or failure of the Tribunal is bringing
Milosevic, Karadzic and Mladic to justice, and this should be its
(Tribunal's) first priority," Simonovic said in his speech.
"There is absolutely no excuse that after seven years of its
existence the ICTY has not issued an indictment against Milosevic
for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Croatia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina," the Croatian diplomat said.
"So far, the lack of co-operation of the FRY (Yugoslavia) and
Bosnian Serbs, as well as the lack of efficient international
enforcement mechanisms have put countries and Governments which
cooperate with the Tribunal in an embarrassing position. Moreover,
it paradoxically exposed them to negative publicity," Simonovic
assessed adding that in such a case media featured the faces and
crimes of the Croats and Bosnians, transferred to the Hague by their
own authorities, and this led to the distortion of the overall
perception of the committed crimes, while it might be forgotten
that main culprits are still at large.
Simonovic advocated a greater role of national courts in the future
for the processing of war crimes. According to him, political
changes in south-eastern European countries have made it possible
for the ICTY to lessen its burden.
Simonovic urged that the forthcoming changes in the ICTY Statute be
profound rather than only technical. This is necessary as "the ICTY
has grown from a brave idea into a large and powerful institution
with 1,050 employees" and a yearly budget of over 100 million
dollars.
He added that his country supported an idea about the set-up of an
international fund which will earmark means for the compensation to
victims of war crimes as well as to "persons who have been
wrongfully detained, prosecuted or convicted" in The Hague.
(hina) jn ms