[Kcc-News] Human Rights Watch press release: Bush Administration Urged To Deny Aid to Yugoslavia

[Mentor Cana]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press-Release: Human Rights Watch

Bush Administration Urged To Deny Aid to Yugoslavia
Belgrade Fails to Cooperate with War Crimes Court

(New York, March 1, 2001)-The Bush administration should not resume U.S.
economic assistance to Yugoslavia, because Belgrade has failed to
cooperate with the war crimes court in The Hague, Human Rights Watch
said today.
    In a February 23 letter to U.S. Secretary of State Powell, Human
Rights Watch pointed out that Yugoslav authorities had failed to arrest
and hand over any of the Serb and Yugoslav officials, including former
President Slobodan Milosevic, who have been indicted by the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
    The U.S. Congress laid down strict guidelines in the 2001 Foreign
Operations Assistance Act, prohibiting the U.S. government from resuming
aid to Belgrade unless Yugoslavia cooperates with the tribunal,
including "the surrender and transfer of indictees or assistance in
their apprehension." According to the legislation, the Bush
administration must decide by March 31, 2001 whether to resume U.S. aid.
    Although Yugoslav authorities seem poised to arrest former President
Milosevic, Human Rights Watch said that his arrest and possible trial
for corruption in Belgrade would not in any way constitute cooperation
with the international tribunal in The Hague.
    "Now that the arrest of Milosevic seems imminent, the U.S.
government must be firmer than ever about the need to cooperate with the
international tribunal," said Holly Cartner, executive director of the
Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "This would be
the worst possible moment to relax the conditions on U.S. aid. The Bush
administration must send a clear message to the authorities in Belgrade,
that no money except humanitarian aid will flow from Washington until
they start handing over indictees to The Hague."
    Along with former President Milosevic, four senior Yugoslav and Serb
officials and former officials have been charged with crimes against
humanity committed by troops under their command in Kosovo in early
1999. During that period, their forces conducted a brutal campaign in
which thousands of ethnic Albanians were killed and more than 800,000
were forced out of the province. On many occasions, groups of ethnic
Albanians were systematically executed by Serbian special police or
paramilitaries.
    In addition to the five charged with crimes against humanity in
Kosovo, three Yugoslav Army officials remain at liberty in Yugoslavia
despite their indictment on charges relating to the capture of Vukovar
in Croatia in November 1991. At Vukovar, more than 250 Croats were
seized from a hospital and slaughtered. One of these officers is still
serving in Yugoslavia's Army.
    Former Bosnian Serb military commander General Ratko Mladic is
living in Belgrade. Radovan Karadzic, formerly president of the Bosnian
Serb Republic, is also at large and believed to have traveled to
Yugoslavia in recent months. These two were charged with genocide in
connection with the massacre of 7,000 Bosnian men after the fall of
Srebrenica in July 1995, the largest single killing in Europe since
World War II.
    Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has argued that transferring
indictees to The Hague would "destabilize" his new, more democratic
government in Belgrade. In fact, said Human Rights Watch, allowing the
indictees to remain at liberty will only encourage the most violent and
lawless elements in Serbia.  Human Rights Watch's own research in Bosnia
and Croatia has shown that the transfer of indictees to the Hague can
facilitate democracy and be a first step toward greater stability in the
region.
    The record of Croatia's cooperation with the Tribunal under late
president Tudjman also demonstrates the importance of a principled U.S.
stance on the issue. Twelve Bosnian Croats surrendered to  the Tribunal
in 1997 as a result of the U.S. threat to veto International Monetary
Fund and World Bank loans to the country.  The 2001 Foreign Operations
Assistance Act stipulates similar conditionality for the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia.
    "A forceful U.S. position on Croatia's cooperation with the Tribunal
was instrumental to the transfer of indictees to the Hague," said
Cartner. "Nothing less is required in U.S. relations with Yugoslavia.
U.S. law is unambiguous on this point, and the new U.S. administration
must be unambiguous, too."

A copy of the letter to Secretary Powell is available at:
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/02/powell0223.htm

For more information, please contact:
In New York, Richard Dicker: +212-216-1248
In Washington, Betsy Andersen: +202-612-4326
In Brussels, Jean-Paul Marthoz: +322-732-2009