War crimes prosecutors move swiftly against Mladic over Bosnian Muslim massacre
Ferry Biedermann
THE HAGUE // Prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) yesterday moved quickly to start the case against Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb army commander who was extradited to the Hague on Monday.
Mr Mladic will appear before the court tomorrow to be arraigned on charges of war crimes and genocide during the conflict in Bosnia in the 1990s.
The chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, yesterday acknowledged the importance of the capture of Mr Mladic, 69, to help Europe move past the deep wounds that were left by the break-up of Yugoslavia, the most violent conflict on European soil since the end of the Second World War and one that pitted mostly Christian Serbs against mostly Muslim Bosniaks.
The arrest of Mr Mladic in Serbia was helped by that country's wish to apply for EU membership, he said at a press conference. The extradition of the fugitive was one of the conditions for the talks to start. But Serbia still has to answer questions over how the former general was able to evade justice for nearly 16 years.
"We want to verify who over the past five years have been instrumental in helping Mladic to stay in hiding and we want them to be accountable," Mr Brammertz said.
Speed is imperative in the case of Mr Mladic because of his apparently precarious health as well as the looming deadline for the tribunal to finish its work. The mandate of the ICTY, set up by the UN Security Council in 1993, ends in 2014. But that may be extended to allow the cases against Mr Mladic and his former political boss, Radovan Karadzic, to be completed.
"It would have been a grave injustice if we had to close our door without having him put on trial here," said Nerma Jelacic, spokesperson for the tribunal and a Bosnian who fled the violence in the 1990s. The conflict between 1992 and 1995 displaced two million people and more than 100,000 lost their lives.
The court is paying special attention to the prisoner's health, which his lawyers have said is failing. The most high-profile accused to stand trial in The Hague, the former Yugoslav and Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, died in his cell of a heart attack in 2006 before the case was completed.
Mr Brammertz yesterday presented a pared down indictment for Mr Mladic, reducing the number of charges from 15 to 11, another indication the court wants to expedite the trial. The accusations include one of genocide for the killing of more than 8,000 Muslims in the UN-protected safe haven of Srebrenica in 1995. The former general also stands accused in the death of 10,000 civilians during the siege of Sarajevo and of other crimes during the conflict.
Even as the prosecutor was outlining the charges against Mr Mladic, the case against him was being cemented down the hall in three courtrooms where four other Bosnian Serb defendants are standing trial.
Most poignantly, in the proceedings against Mr Karadzic yesterday, the general was placed at a meeting in the early 1990s in which the Serb leadership decided on measures against the Bosnian Muslims to ensure that "either the whole of Bosnia or the Serbian parts will remain in Yugoslavia".
Bosnian Serbs are not the only ones to stand trial even though they form the majority of the cases. In total, the tribunal has issued 161 indictments to Serbs, Croats and Bosnian and Kosovar Muslims. "We did not indict people on the basis of their nationalities. We indicted them on the basis of the crimes they committed," Ms Jelacic said. Of the 161, just one is still a fugitive, Goran Hadzic, a Serb politician from Croatia who was seen moving freely in Serbia in 2004.
The ICTY has helped the countries of the former Yugoslavia strengthen their own judiciaries to deal with further war-crimes cases, beyond the 2014 deadline for the tribunal.
Ms Jelacic said that the tribunal is helping the countries in the Balkans to move on. "Through doing its job, it is having an impact on the way people's ability to deal with the past, to accept the facts and to discover the scale of the atrocities that were committed in the 1990s and finding those responsible," she said. Next page
53fab37976c40310VgnVCM100000e56411acRCRDPared down indictment for Ratko Mladic, reducing the number of charges from 15 to 11, is indication the the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia wants to expedite the trial against he former Bosnian Serb army commander.
UAE joins war against polio virus
Dubai: The UAE has joined hands with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in its campaign to save children's lives by combating polio in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Dr Hanif Hassan, Minister of Health, said yesterday.
The two Asian nations still report a huge number of polio cases and face several other health challenges, Dr Hassan, who earlier opened a meeting of the WHO Regional Commission meeting for Polio Eradication, said.
He said the partnership between General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been particularly notable for providing basic vaccinations that are critical to ending the disease's threat.
Gates writes in his annual letter that: "Most people who live in rich countries assume the disease is long gone and that it doesn't kill or paralyse children any more."
Mass mobilisations to administer the polio vaccine had helped eliminate polio in the US and most developed nations decades ago, Gates notes. The campaign in developing nations, however, still faces a funding shortfall of over Dh2.5 billion, he pointed out.
Review planned
"If eradication fails because of a lack of generosity on the part of donor countries it would be tragic. We are so close, but we have to finish the last leg of the journey. We need to bring the cases down to zero, maintain careful surveillance to ensure the virus is truly gone."
Dr Hassan said the WHO meeting would review the certification reports of the eastern Mediterranean region and prepare specific recommendations that will contribute to the efforts of declaring the countries of the region free of polio.
He pointed out that there are still some countries here where the disease is rampant. "These countries require support from all the countries of the region to help get rid of the disease."
Dr Hassan said that polio in the region was now down to two countries. There has been no polio case recorded in the UAE since 1992, he added.
Polio is a viral illness with those affected not showing any symptoms in 95 per cent of cases.
Transparency key in fight against human trafficking
Dubai: Enhancing media coverage on human trafficking and training journalists to ensure accuracy of information when writing on the subject was identified as some of the best ways of fighting the crime at a global level.
The views gained prominence at a Human Trafficking and Media Conference that concluded on Tuesday with calls for greater transparency in the context of human trafficking cases.
Experts discussed the issues of human trafficking and the role of the non-Arabic media, electronic media and importance of pictures with regard to human trafficking coverage. Speakers on the second day of the two-day conference discussed the role of non-Arabic media.
Abdul Hamid Ahmad, Editor-in-Chief of Gulf News, highlighted the imported nature of the crime but stressed that the issue posed a minor challenge in the UAE. "We have more significant problems, such as demographic structure, which is one of the causes of human trafficking in the UAE. Human trafficking crimes are entirely exported to the UAE, including buyers, sellers and victims," he said.
Journalists' challenge
Ahmad also highlighted the challenges facing investigative journalism in the UAE. "Crime stories are always appetising, but this issue has many restrictions which requires the cooperation of all parties involved in the investigation. We also need specialised journalists in chasing and covering this kind of crime who are not available for the time-being."
He called for setting up a hotline to report cases of human trafficking and to initiate training courses for journalists on how to report human trafficking issues and news. "I hope this conference turns from a general forum to workshops that offer guidelines on what should and shouldn't be done regarding the human trafficking issue."
Dr Hessa Lootah, Associate Professor at UAE University, drew attention to issues related to the image of women and children in media. She said pictures of little girls wearing heavy make-up or posing in seductively could result in an increase in sexual assaults against children.
"When people see these pictures, the message delivered to their subconscious is that these girls are women, and the subconscious is what dictates our actions," she said. "As a nation, we have very little awareness of the visual components of pictures and messages delivered not through the eye, but through at the subconscious level," she said.
Sensitivity aspect
Visual media is a picture, not just information. For example, when talking about terror, news channels show pictures of Arabs and Muslims, which sets their image as terrorists in the brain, she said. "We must be aware of the messages we send and give special care to the media and its directions," she said.
"When it comes to human trafficking, I care about prevention, rather than treatment of the issue. I believe that all efforts should be directed to combat poverty and tackling the reasons that make big countries go to war, because war is the cause of many crimes," Dr Hessa added.
Media must step up
Experts recommended enhancing the role of the media by providing accurate information on human trafficking cases, and training specialised journalists who must have legal awareness about the issue. The media must also protect the dignity and privacy of the victims when providing coverage.
Recommendations included coordination with media attaches in UAE embassies to follow up the news published in other countries about the UAE and coordinate with media bodies that publish them to underscore the UAE's interest and provide correct and clear information.
The hotline
8007283 will be available in six languages — Arabic, English,Urdu, Russian, Filipino and Bengali — and will be operational round-the-clock seven days a week.
