Conference on War Crimes Trials in the Former Yugoslavia

The Humanitarian Law Center, a well recognized NGO of the Former Yugoslavia (FRY), organized a Conference on the war crimes trials and the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on November 7 and 8, 1998 in Belgrad. It was an historical event, as such a conference has never been held on the territory of the Former Yugoslavia and, thus, many people who were affected by the work of the ICTY had the opportunity to express their opinion in a public and open atmosphere. This is even more important since the Miloseviæ government tried to obstruct the event where possible. A request by Louise Arbour, Chief Prosecutor, to investigate events in Kosovo while staying at the conference was rejected since, as put by the FRY Ambassador to The Hague, "the FRY does not accept any investigation of ICTY in Kosovo and Metohija generally, nor during your stay in the FRY". Thus, Arbour and Judge McDonald, currently President of the Tribunal, felt, "unable" to attend the conference and had to report to the Security Council once again a failure of the FRY to comply with its international obligations, specifically with SR Res. 1160 (1980), 1199 (1998) and 1203 (1998) [See Press Releases JL/PIU/359 E und JL/PIU/360-E, both of 5 November 1998]. Despite this evident violation of international law by the government of the FRY, it is another question whether the complete cancellation of the visit by McDonald and Arbour was a wise decision. It was doubted by many participants at the conference who were sympathetic to the Tribunal... [more]