Introduction
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INTRODUCTION The enormity of the war crimes in BosniaBHercegovina is matched only by the international community's lack of political will to intercede effectively to stop these crimes against humanity. Some of the atrocities are being carried out in full view of the world as they are taking place; details of the siege of Sarajevo, for example, including the privations suffered by its residents, and the relentless shelling and sniping that are gunning them down, have been reported and broadcast more promptly and more fully than in any other place or at any other time in history. Although this is going on in the center of Europe, the governments of powerful European countries and of the United States, and such intergovernmental bodies as the European Community (E.C.), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United Nations (U.N.) have been unable or unwilling to do no more than intermittently and, in many cases, inadequately deliver humanitarian assistance; adopt resolutions; and conduct seemingly endless and fruitless negotiations. Meanwhile, "ethnic cleansing" C which includes abuses such as deportations, confinement of civilians in detention camps, torture, rape, murder and indiscriminate bombardment of civilian communities C is apparently being completed. Helsinki Watch has been monitoring abuses in the wars in the former Yugoslavia since they began, in Slovenia and Croatia, in the summer of 1991. We have monitored abuses connected with the war in BosniaBHercegovina since its start, in April 1992. In August 1992 we published Volume One of War Crimes in BosniaBHercegovina. In issuing that report, we called on the United Nations to take appropriate steps to prevent and suppress genocide and to establish an international war crimes tribunal to try and punish those responsible for crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia. Although all sides have committed serious abuses, Helsinki Watch's findings indicate that the most severe and overwhelming number of crimes have been committed by Serbian forces. Now, eight months after our previous report, we are issuing Volume Two of War Crimes in BosniaBHercegovina. The proposal for a war crimes tribunal has gained some momentum, most notably in the United Nations Security Council's Resolution No. 808 of February 22, 1993, deciding that an international tribunal should be established and calling for a report by the Secretary General within sixty days on all aspects of this matter. International efforts have focused mainly on the need to deliver humanitarian aid to besieged villages, towns and cities. Little or nothing has been done to end the intense bombardment of the areas under siege or to stop the systematic process of "ethnic cleansing." No effective 1 measures have been taken to date to prevent or suppress genocide. Despite the weighty evidence contained in this report and other evidence that has been presented to the United Nations, extreme abuses continue in BosniaBHercegovina without respite. A year has passed since the conflict in BosniaBHercegovian began, with no effective actions by the international community to end the suffering. What is taking place in BosniaBHercegovina is attempted genocide C the extermination of a people in whole or in part because of their race, religion or ethnicity.1 This is the gravest crime known to humankind. The nations of the world have entered into a treaty that pledges them to "prevent and suppress" genocide. The parties to the Genocide Convention and the United Nations as its sponsor have failed in meeting their treaty obligation to take appropriate measures to stop genocide. The abuses occurring in Bosnia-Hercegovina also constitute crimes against humanity as that term was defined at the Nuremberg trial and within the meaning of customary international law.2 In the eight months that have passed since the publication of Volume One of War Crimes in BosniaBHercegovina, Human Rights Watch and its Helsinki Watch division have, among other things, called upon the President of the United States and the Secretary General of the United Nations to seek and take "action that is appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide as provided in Article VIII of the 1951 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide." We called upon the President of the United States to urge the Security Council of the United Nations to establish an international tribunal to investigate, prosecute and punish war crimes, or "grave breaches" of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Protocol.3 We have called upon the Secretary General of the United Nations to expand the mandate of the United Nations Protection Forces (UNPROFOR) in BosniaBHercegovina to include military protection of the delivery of humanitarian assistance to noncombatants of all 1 For a discussion of the 1951 Genocide Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and its relation to the abuses taking place in the former Yugoslavia, see Helsinki Watch, War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina, August 1992, pp. 1-2. 2 See Appendix A for a discussion of the law governing crimes against humanity. 3 See, in Appendix B, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki Watch letter to President George Bush, August 7, 1992 and Appendix C, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki Watch letter to Honorable BoutrosBGhali, August 11, 1993. 2 ethnic and religious groups whose lives are at risk due to sieges and other practices associated with "ethnic cleansing."4 We have called upon the U.N. peace negotiators to call a halt to the peace negotiations until a neutral body certifies that the abuses associated with "ethnic cleansing" have ceased and the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in besieged communities has been facilitated.5 We also expressed our concern that individuals who may ultimately stand trial for war crimes "do not appear to derive undeserved legitimacy" from their appearance at the negotiating table.6 Helsinki Watch has made and will continue to make available information on which our reports are based to the Commission of Experts established by the United Nations Security Council and to the office of prosecutor for a U.N. war crimes tribunal, as soon as one is established. In presenting our latest report, Human Rights Watch and its Helsinki Watch division call on the United Nations Security Council, the United States, and other governments and intergovernmental bodies to take the following steps: 1. Commit themselves to take measures immediately to prevent and suppress genocide in BosniaBHercegovina, and implement those measures; 2. Proceed as quickly as possible with the actual establishment of a war crimes tribunal and the office of a prosecutor for the tribunal. 3. Use such military force as is required to protect the delivery of humanitarian assistance to those civilians who are now threatened with starvation utilized as a weapon and directed against them in violation of the laws of war; and 4. Deploy United Nations human rights monitors right away, without waiting for a ceaseBfire or peace agreement C as was done in El Salvador six months before a ceaseBfire C in all parts of BosniaBHercegovina to 4 See, in Appendix D, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki Watch letter to Honorable Boutros BoutrosBGhali, January 14, 1993. 5 See, in Appendix E, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki Watch letter to Cyrus Vance, February 2, 1993. 6 In a meeting with Cyrus Vance, the then U.N. mediator assured Helsinki Watch that he would oppose any effort, as part of the peace settlement, to provide for an amnesty for individuals responsible for international war crimes. 3 report publicly on "ethnic cleansing" and other human rights abuses. Helsinki Watch understands and sympathizes with the difficult task faced by diplomats and negotiators who are striving to bring an end to the misery that has befallen the peoples of the former Yugoslavia. However, the U.N. Secretary General, members of the U.N. Security Council and U.N. and E.C. negotiators often appear to be neglecting the human rights of the people of BosniaBHercegovina in the interest of signing a peace accord. Serbian forces have delayed the process of negotiating that accord as they attempt to complete the "ethnic cleansing" of nonBSerbs in territory they control or continue to besiege. Helsinki Watch fears that peace in BosniaBHercegovina C and, indeed, throughout the former Yugoslavia C will warrant the description by Tacitus in The Agricola of how the ancient Romans in Britain "created a desolation and called it peace." MMMETHODOLOGY This report focuses on violations of the rules of war by all parties to the conflict in BosniaBHercegovina. The information in this report supplements the Helsinki Watch report of August 1992 and is based on numerous missions to and investigations conducted by Helsinki Watch and Human Rights Watch representatives between September 1992 and March 1993. The vast majority of those interviewed by Helsinki Watch have asked that their names be kept confidential and, in some cases, that the place of the interview remain secret because it might help identify them. Many people fear for the lives of friends and relatives who remain in the war zone or that their enemies might find them in refugee camps and other placement centers, even when these areas are far removed from the arena of warfare. In deference to their concerns, Helsinki Watch has adopted a policy of using pseudonyms or initials for all witnesses and avoiding specifics as to the places where the witnesses were interviewed. The names, dates, and places of such interviews and other supplemental information are kept in secure files outside the Helsinki Watch office and, under appropriate safeguards, will be made available, in a fashion consistent with our agreements with witnesses, to the prosecution for the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal. Human Rights Watch and its Helsinki Watch division base their reports on direct testimony from victims or witnesses to abuses taken at sites where those abuses have taken place or at sites to which the victims have been displaced.