Union’s Bosnian police force should bring war-crime suspects to justice, says Amnesty

Date: 16/01/03

THE EU's new police mission in Bosnia should help ensure that local officers suspected of war crimes are prosecuted, Amnesty International has recommended.

In a paper submitted to Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, Amnesty notes that some 200 Bosnian officers have been dismissed by the mission's precursor, the International Police Task Force, since the country's war ended seven years ago.

Although one quarter of these cases has been linked to breaches of humanitarian law during the conflict, the human rights group says it is not aware of any investigations that have ensued. It urges that the EU Police Mission (EUPM) - formally launched in Sarajevo yesterday (15 January) - should have a special human rights unit, which would supervise criminal probes into the officers concerned.

The group also laments that an estimated 17,000 Bosnians who went missing in the 1990s, when the ex-Yugoslav state became synonymous with the term "ethnic cleansing", have still not been accounted for. According to Amnesty, "many of these people were "disappeared" in the sense that they were last seen in the custody of the military, the police or paramilitary groups, who have so far declined to provide the victims' relatives with any information on their fate and whereabouts".

While the EUPM will not be empowered to arrest indicted war criminals, officials say it is due to check that the country's own security forces pursue those facing allegations of heinous crimes. Similarly, it is due to cooperate closely with the Hague-based war crimes tribunal on the former Yugoslavia.

Chris Patten, the Union's external relations commissioner, said this week that EUPM will have a pivotal role to play in establishing the rule of law.

"We are helping the countries of the Western Balkans build honest, uncorrupt institutions brick by brick," he added. "Building a strong police service in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), creating a more effective judiciary and assisting the fight against organised crime are priorities if BiH is to look forward to a stable future and a closer relationship with the EU."

The EU's new police mission in Bosnia should help ensure that local officers suspected of war crimes are prosecuted, Amnesty International has recommended.