Fifteen years ago on 11 July 1995 the Bosniak town of Srebrenica, declared a safe area under United Nations protection, fell into the hands of Serb forces under the command of General Mladic. What followed was a merciless slaughter unparalleled in Europe since the end of the Second World War. Approximately 8 000 men and boys were massacred.

For fifteen years Ratko Mladic has been sought by the international justice system for genocide and crimes against humanity. Protected by Serbia, the fugitive criminal still manages to evade the grasp of justice, despite the repeated demands of four successive Chief Prosecutors of the International Criminal Tribunal. The authority of the law alone has not been enough to persuade Belgrade. That leaves political action by governments who alone have the resources needed to make Serbia comply. But no such action has been forthcoming.

Heads of state, ministers and ambassadors are at this moment on their way to the Potocari-Srebrenica Memorial Centre to attend the fifteenth anniversary commemoration. There they will be joining survivors returning to the graves of their loved ones for a visit lasting until the ceremony ends, when they will leave Srebrenica, a town that by cruel irony was handed over to the executioners by the peace agreement signed a few months after the massacre.

Going to Srebrenica is a meaningless gesture if expressions of compassion are simply an excuse for inaction. Above all when the town itself is the symbol of empty promises – a safe area left unprotected, a commitment to the return of survivors as empty as the intention to end Mladic’s impunity, the subject of endless deal-making.

The reason we are addressing ourselves to the leaders of Europe and America today is to remind them that they have used up enough fine phrases without putting their words into action. In 2005, at the tenth anniversary, their most senior representatives expressed their regret that the principal suspects for the massacre at Srebrenica remained at liberty and considered that “it (was) more important than ever that those responsible for these deeds that shocked the conscience of humanity should answer for their crimes before justice” (France). “The evil that was responsible for what happened at Srebrenica continues to haunt these hills, it must be banished. (…) But if we genuinely want to turn over a new page, once and for all, we need to take action (…)” (United States). “The European Union, too, emerged from the ruins of a continent destroyed by war and crime. But it was by bringing those responsible for those crimes to justice that Europe was able to begin the work of reconciliation” (United Kingdom). [nb translations, not quotes]

Three years later Radovan Karadzic was handed over to The Hague after a previously untroubled period of residence in Serbia. However his henchman, Ratko Mladic, has still not been brought to justice. The Serbian government has promised he is going to be arrested too … soon. The years have passed by as Serbia receives one little reward after another – the latest being the promise of membership in the near future of Europe and NATO.

The time is well overdue for a change of strategy and attitude on the part of our democratic governments. Insisting on Mladic’s arrest and making it an absolute precondition to any consideration of Serbia’s application for membership of the EU and NATO is simply a matter of refusing to compromise with our principles. It would demonstrate that European and American leaders intend to put respect for the rule of law at the forefront of those principles.

The only adequate expression of respect for the victims and their families on this fifteenth anniversary is the expression of a genuine commitment, “Mladic in prison, Yes, we can !” No more betrayal!

Florence Hartmann and Yan de Kerorguen, Vice-Presidents – Initiative citoyens en Europe.

Texte original (français): Arrêter Mladic, yes we can! (Le Monde) – Lundi 8 juillet 2010. Texte traduit par O. Beith (Londres).

Open letter to Serge Brammertz – Prosecutor ICTY

Let us remind ourselves. On 11 July 1995 troops commanded by General Ratko Mladic captured the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica, a safe area under the protection of the United Nations. Two days later the mass execution of an estimated 8000 men and boys began. By killing all the men of military age and the youths of Srebrenica, the Bosnian Serb forces intended to make the survival of the Bosnian Muslim population at Srebrenica impossible. The bodies were either buried in mass graves or destroyed. Two international courts have since concluded, based on the facts and the intentions of the perpetrators, that what took place was genocide. The judgments concerned were handed down by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2001, in the Krstic case, and by the International Court of Justice in 2007. The first indictment against Ratko Mladic was filed with the ICTY in The Hague on 24 July 1995. Mladic is still at liberty.

As was to be expected, the issue of genocide at Srebrenica continues to preoccupy media and political circles in Serbia. Unfortunately denials, rumors, and misinformation circulate concerning the whereabouts of the two fugitives still pursued by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for their role in the war in Bosnia. One of the fugitives is General Ratko Mladic, charged with the responsibility for the genocide but still regarded as a hero in some nationalist circles. An unwillingness to take effective action has allowed his false reputation as a heroic figure to persist.

The term “genocide” itself is still fiercely disputed. Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska, rejects the designation and suggests that the death toll at Srebrenica may have been exaggerated. Meanwhile Serge Brammertz, Chief Prosecutor for the ICTY, has declared, for the umpteenth time, that the arrest of Ratko Mladic on charges of genocide is a priority concern for the Tribunal. Brammertz insists that Mladic’s arrest is essential if Serbia is serious about demonstrating cooperation with the ICTY. In June Mr. Brammertz will be submitting his report on cooperation to the United Nations Security Council and the European Union will then have to decide whether to proceed with discussions on Serbia’s application for EU membership. The EU has made Serbia’s progress towards membership conditional on full cooperation with the ICTY.

What Serge Brammertz has to report is therefore very important. So is he prepared to grasp this opportunity and, instead of continuing to acknowledging the gradual and undisputed progress that Serbia and ICTY officials have managed to achieve, focus on the specific issue of the long-overdue detention of Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic?

This year we are commemorating the 15th anniversary of the genocide. The ritual of a dialogue intended for public consumption has gone on long enough. Mr. Brammertz’s repeated calls for Mladic’s arrest remain unanswered. We do not question Mr. Brammertz’s honesty or his commitment but firm action is needed.

Mr. Brammertz’s most recent pronouncement was made in the appropriate surroundings of the Srebrenica Memorial Centre. That was a welcome gesture but it is not enough. The ICTY needs to impose a deadline for the fugitives’ detention. We suggest that Mr. Brammertz set a time limit forbthe arrest of D. Mladic and G. Hadzic of 10 July 2010.

11 July was the date the genocide commenced and for this date to mark the continuing impunity of these two men would be yet another blow to the victims’ families. It would also be very damaging for Serbia too, because it would perpetuate the fallacy that all Serbs support Ratko Mladic. We reject the idea that there was anything heroic about the bestial crimes against men and women that have for so long tainted the name “Serbian”. Mladic was the representative of a heinous and repulsive form of belligerent nationalism. The crimes that were supposedly committed on behalf of Serbs generally were motivated by a combination of nationalistic paranoia and greed.

We need to turn the page on this episode of history. Milosevic, Karadzic and others were detained and brought to trial – for which we must express our gratitude a thousand times over to those Serbs who had the courage to bring about their transfer to the ICTY in The Hague – but Mladic and Hadzic still remain at liberty and we cannot get on with the work of coming to terms with the past until these two fugitives are arrested.

Is Mladic going to be arrested, yes or no? And when? Are we simply waiting for him to die of old age or be declared unfit to stand trial?

Brammertz, Serbia depends on you! The European Union has offloaded its responsibility and stopped insisting on Mladic’s arrest as a precondition for talks on accession. We urge you to reflect on the responsibility that lies on your shoulders. You must demand that Serbia make the fugitives’ arrest a priority for all organs of the Serbian state.

Anything else is simply time-wasting and empty words.

Signataires – 4.VI.2010
Sonja Biserko, Helsinski odbor za ljudska prava u Srbiji – Belgrade
Nedzad Cengic, Gratiartis - Belgique
Georges Chenu, Comité Kosovo – Paris
Pierre Courtin, DaDaDa – Bosnie
Enfants Europe Bosnie – France
Nanou Rousseau, Fédération Mères pour la paix – France
Dragan Grcic, Blog de veille sur les droits de l’Homme en Serbie – Bruxelles
Dzenana Ibisevic, Dzana.net – La Bosnie sur le net - Bosnie
Ivan Jurasinovic, Avocat à la Cour associé – France
Sylvie Matton, author and journalist, Srebrenica, un génocide annoncé – France
Boris Najman, Association Sarajevo – Paris
Nicole Perotti, Bosnie Mir Sada – Lyon
Laurent Richard, Guernica ADPE, France
Philipp Ruch, Center for Political Beauty – Germany
Bruno Rosar, Balkanikum - Zagreb
Zehra Sikias, BH Info – L’actualité francophone sur la Bosnie-Herzégovine – France
Ivar Petterson, Solidarité Bosnie – Genève
Zene u Crnom – Femmes en Noir- Belgrade
Tilman Zülch, Society for threatened people, Germany

Mi-février, la presse donnait des informations qui éclairent de façon critique la politique de l’UE en matière d’expulsions d’étrangers vers les Balkans. Dans le cas présent, il s’agit de Roms expulsés vers le Kosovo -dans sa novlangue bureaucratique, l’UE parle de «réadmission».

Le Commissaire du Conseil de l’Europe pour les Droits Humains, Thomas Hammarberg, a en effet demandé qu’il soit mis fin au renvoi forcé des Roms au Kosovo. Il a également visité les camps de Cesmin Lug et Osterode et a demandé leur évacuation pour des motifs sanitaires, puisque la santé des occupants et de leurs leurs enfants y est fortement compromise par la pollution des sols. «Que des gens vivent dans ces camps depuis une bonne dizaine d’années est un véritable scandale dont la communauté internationale est en bonne partie responsable» a-t-il ajouté (1).

Selon le Commissaire, 2.500 personnes sont retournées au Kosovo en 2009 et des Roms expulsés d’Europe ont été installés dans ces camps de fortune contaminés. Il a appelé les pays européens à cesser le renvoi forcé, jusqu’à ce que le Kosovo soit prêt à garantir les conditions de vie nécessaires, les soins médicaux, l’éducation, des services sociaux et des emplois. Il a ajouté, à juste titre, que le Kosovo manque toujours des infrastructures requises pour fournir une réintégration des réfugiés. En d’autres termes, renvoyer là-bas des personnes, sans moyens de subsistance, revient à les réduire à une précarité ou une pauvreté complète, sans perspective d’avenir. Le Commissaire relève aussi une difficulté sur le plan humanitaire: certains des réfugiés ont vécu très longtemps à l’étranger et parfois même leurs enfants y sont-ils nés, parlant très bien la langue de ces pays mais n’ayant aucune attache au Kosovo ni même une connaissance de la langue albanaise!

Quel avenir pense-t-on préparer en faisant vivre des enfants dans ces camps? Les dirigeants européens répètent à l’envi que les Balkans ont vocation à rejoindre prochainement l’UE, quelle est donc la logique qui pousse à expulser ceux qui demain seront les citoyens de l’Union Européenne? Mais c’est peut-être là une question de fond: les pays de l’UE, oui ou non, sont-ils prêts à considérer les Roms comme des citoyens à part entière?

Concernant le camp de Cesmin Lug, pour comprendre son existence il faut remonter à 1999, lorsque le quartier rom de Kosovska Mitrovica a été incendié par les Albanais. Ses habitants avaient alors trouvé refuge dans un camp conçu pour les accueillir temporairement. Selon une ONG, les représentants de l’ONU s’étaient engagés, à l’époque, à ce que l’hébergement ne dépasse pas 45 jours (2). Il se fait que le terrain est contaminé par le plomb (il se situe près d’une ancienne mine) et 670 personnes y résideraient toujours -dans des conditions des plus précaires. Les autorités laissent parfois entendre que les familles «choisissent» de rester dans ces camps, alors que des familles ont en effet refusé de quitter le camp de Cesmin Lug car on leur proposait de s’installer… dans le camp d’Osterode, dont des tests ont démontré une toxicité des sols aussi forte.  Par ailleurs les familles demandent une perspective de solution durable et non une vie dans un nouveau camp précaire. Cela fait des années que des organisations non gouvernementales et des organisations internationales ont appelé à l’évacuation immédiate du camp, en vain. Même l’Organisation Mondiale de la Santé (OMS) a demandé la fermeture des deux camps, mais rien n’y fait.

On ne manquera pas de s’étonner du paradoxe européen: d’une part l’UE exige -à juste titre- des pays qui souhaitent entrer dans l’UE un plein respect des droits fondamentaux des Roms, mais d’autre part elle se préoccupe avant tout de réduire la présence des Roms dans les pays de l’UE, ceux-ci étant très souvent jugés indésirables par différents pays de l’UE.

En tout cas, il faut se réjouir de l’existence du Commissaire aux Droits de l’Homme et de son indépendance. Sa sortie médiatique aura-t-elle une suite? En tout cas la Commission européenne et le Gouvernement du Kosovo ont réagi à la prise de position de Th. Hammerberg, s’engageant à fermer «aussitôt que possible» ces camps. Cela fait belle lurette que cette promesse est ressassée. La fermeture doit être immédiate et les expulsions doivent être stoppées.

(1) http://www.commissioner.coe.int
(2) Source: UK Association of Gypsy Women, communiqué du 2 février 2010, contact:  rfukagw at live.co.uk.