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26 February 2007
United States Sees Ruling on Bosnia as Opportunity for Healing
State Department urges Serbia to hand over wanted war criminals
Washington -- The Bush administration views the ruling by the International Court of Justice on Serbia’s involvement in genocide during the early 1990s in Bosnia as an opportunity for reconciliation among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said February 26 that the ruling, which does not hold the Serbian government directly responsible for genocide but finds Serbia did not prevent Bosnian Serbs from committing genocide, is “a pretty complex opinion,” that U.S. government lawyers are continuing to study.
However, McCormack said the initial U.S. reaction is to “encourage the people of the region to use this as another opportunity to proceed down the pathway of reconciliation and healing of the historical divides and some of the grievous wounds that have occurred over the past years in the region.”
In previous cases, the international court, the United Nations’ highest court, had found individuals guilty of genocide during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, and had established that the 1995 massacre of Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica was an act of genocide. At least 100,000 people are reported to have died and 1.8 million were displaced during the war.
The case, brought in 2006 by Bosnia against Serbia, was the first time a state, rather than individuals, has been charged with genocide.
Although Serbia was not found directly responsible, the court ruling said Belgrade was in violation of the United Nations’ 1951 Genocide Convention because it was obligated to try to prevent the killings and punish those responsible. The court also encouraged Serbia to turn over war criminals such as Ratko Mladic to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands.
The United States has urged the governments in the region to call on indicted war criminals to give themselves up. (See related article.)
McCormack called on Serbia to heed international calls for it “take those extra steps … that would enhance that healing process and see to it that those who are responsible for these kinds of crimes are brought to justice.”
He said the United States hopes the people of the region can take the opportunity to “reconcile themselves to the past” and “take advantage of this time to continue efforts at that reconciliation.”
For additional information on U.S. policy in the region, see Southeast Europe.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
