by Emma Bonino

A War Crimes Tribunal

Since fighting broke out in the former Yugoslavia in 1990, there have been persistant and transparent reports of war crimes, and allegations of a policy of genocide, being practised there, particularly in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The UN Security Council has passed several resolutions calling for the fighting to cease, and condemning the reported atrocities. despite the Councils' call, contained in binding resolutions, neither the fighting nor the alleged atrocities, have ceased.

In recent months, the international community has moved to investigate the allegations:

1. UN Commission of Human Rights

A Special Rapporteur, Tadeus Mazowiecki (former Prime Minister of Poland) investigated the human rights situation in former Yugoslavia, 21-26 August. His conclusions (UN document A/47/418 of 3 September), were, inter alia, that:

(i) massive and grave violations of human rights are occurring throughout the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

(ii) such violations were being perpetrated by all parties, but the situation of the Muslim population was "particularly tragic";

(iii) the violence is tolerated and often even encouraged by responsible authorities;

(iv) there is an urgent need for immediate concerted action.

Mr. Mazowiecki's recommendations were, inter alia, that:

(i) the heavy weaponry on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina should immediately be neutralised by grouping them underthe supervision of UNPROFOR;

(ii) the UN should continue firmly to call upon the competent authorities to abandon the policy of "ethnic cleansing" in all its forms;

(iii) the UN should, without delay, issue a peremptory warning to the authorities controlling the different parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina that, with respect to their duty to safeguard the security of the civilian population, they may, in accordance with the norms and standards of international law, be brought to justice not only for the direct perpetration but also for the toleration of acts of atrocity, violence and other violations of human rights.

2. CSCE

A panel of three rapporteurs (Ambassador Corell of Sweden, Turk of Austria and Thune of Norway) visited Croatia from 30 September to 5 October. The panel concluded that:

(i) there were numerous reports regarding atrocities against unarmed civilians as well as the practice of "ethnic cleansing" in Croatia; and while such reports could be attributed to both parties to the conflict, it appeared that the scale and gravity of the crimes committed by the Yugoslav Natiuonal Army, the Serbian paramilitary groups and the police forces of the Knin authorities were by far the most serious;

(ii) there was a sufficient legal basis for international prosecution;

(iii) an expert committe should be convened immediately for establishing a system for the collection of information;

(iv) an expert committee should be established to prepare a treaty establishing an ad hoc tribunal to hear the allegations of crimes;

(v) an international forensic expert group should be sent immediately to investigate the evidence of mass graves. If this is not completed before the northern winter, the evidence may be destroyed.

3. UN (Security Council) Commission of Experts

The UN Security Council set up in October (res S/RES/780, 6 Oct. 1992) an expert group to "examine and anlyse" the information submitted to it, with a view to "providing the UN Secretary-General with its conclusions on the evidence of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other violations of international humanitarian law in the territory of the former Yugoslavia". One of the five experts is Professor Cherif Bassiouni, with whom Global Action works closely. The Group has met only once to date, and is under-financed and under-staffed.

Conclusions and Recommendations

There is clearly an urgent and imperative need to:

(a) intensify the investigative work on the alleged war crimes in Yugoslavia;

(b) establish an ad hoc tribunal to recieve the information, hear the allegations, and as necessary, try those charged with the crimes.

There is, however, concern that if the UN Security Council tries to establish such a tribunal, it may be vetoed by China. Some are therefore in facour of bypassing the UN and calling upon the European CSCE to set up a tribunal, which it would be empowered to do under the Helsinki Final Act (1975) and related agreements.

In our view, the best strategy is to call upon the UN in the first instance to set up the tribunal, since it should be the entire international community that shoud be seized of this matter. The Security Council should be calle upon in the first instance, failing which the General Assembly should act. If the UN does not act by the end of 1992, the CSCE should be called upon to set up the tribunal.