Serbia Arrest Persons Indicted for Genocide

On the eve of the 13th Anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, human rights organizations demand

Serbia Arrest Persons Indicted for Genocide 

This year we mark 60 years since the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It especially obliges us to remind the President of Serbia, the Prime Minister, ministers, and members of the Serbian Parliament, religious leaders and the faithful, leaders and members of political parties, associations, unions, professors, students, youth, and all citizens of Serbia that our country has not yet fulfilled its obligations relative to the International Court of Justice judgement on the violations/non-abidance of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The International Court of Justice rendered a decision on 27 February 2007 establishing that Serbia had violated its obligation to prevent genocide (in accordance with the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide), in view of the genocide committed in Srebrenica in July 1995. The court stated that Serbia had violated its obligation which originates from the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide because it did not extradite Ratko Mladić, indicted for genocide and complicity in genocide, to stand trial before the Hague Tribunal, hence it has not fully cooperated with the Tribunal.

On 27 February 2007, the Court rendered a decision obliging Serbia to instantly take efficient steps to fully respect its obligation towards the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to punish the act of genocide and extradite persons indicted for genocide to stand trial before the Hague Tribunal and therefore complete the cooperation with this Tribunal. Since then, Serbia has taken no steps to arrest persons indicted for the most grievous crime of all war crimes, rather it has continued protecting Hague indictees from criminal liability.

Human rights nongovernmental organizations call upon the authorities of the Republic of Serbia to implement the verdict of the International Court of Justice regarding the arrest of Ratko Mladić and other Hague indictees, Radovan Karadžić and Goran Hadžić, and in so doing cease violating provisions of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the right of victims’ families to justice.

11 July, the anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, is approaching and this date obliges especially us, the citizens, and the authorities in Serbia, to show that victims are important. It also obliges Serbia to accept responsibility for the injustice caused to the victims in July 1995.

Humanitarian Law Center

Helsinki Committee for Human Rights

Youth Initiative for Human Rights

YUCOM Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights

Women in Black

Queeria Centre

        Centre for Cultural Decontamination