Potential war crimes witnesses in Bosnia get advice on rights in search for 12,000 missing
00:00, February 16, 2007 | The Rights of Conflict Victims
International organizations based in Bosnia are educating potential war crimes witnesses on their rights in the hope they will come forward to help search for 12,000 Bosnians still missing from the 1992-95 war.
The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and the Office of
the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Bosnia completed a series of educational meetings with war victims groups whose members are potential witnesses in war crime proceedings, the ICMP said in a statement.
”As time goes on, it is becoming harder to get information on the location of clandestine graves. By educating potential witnesses about their rights, perhaps more of them will come forward to share information that could contribute to closing cases,” said Klaudia Kuljuh, ICMP’s
Government Relations Coordinator. ICMP hopes that by better protecting potential witness, more of them may come forward to provide information on the whereabouts of around 12,000
people still missing for more than a decade following the signing of the Dayton peace agreement.
The war victims groups included former camp inmates, victims of rape and relatives of missing persons. The aim of the meetings is to provide potential witnesses with an overview of their rights and obligations as witnesses, as well as the duties of the state to provide protection to
witnesses in accordance with national legislation and international standards.
During the meetings held this week, the two organizations noticed that witnesses are not properly informed of their rights when testifying in war crime cases.
”Following these educational meetings, OHCHR plans to publish a booklet for witnesses as a contribution to the process of establishing the truth by achieving criminal justice”, said Jasminka
Dzumhur, acting head of OHCHR in Bosnia.