Conference reports
AN INDEPENDENT INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL OF legal experts close to the peace movement met in Barcelona from 7-10 December 1995, in the second session of the Permanent People's Tribunal to deal with former Yugoslavia.
After hearing depositions from a range of Bosnian, Croatian and refugee groups, and representatives of the Spanish and West-European solidarity movements, the Tribunal confirmed the arguments (expressed in International Viewpoint and elsewhere that the major attacks on human rights come trom Serbian and Bosnian Serb forces, and, to a lesser extent, Croatian and Bosnian Croat forces. Indeed, the Tribunal considered that 'there exist sufficient grounds to charge the Presidents ot Serbia and Croatia, Slobodan Milosevic and Franjo Tudjman," neither of whom is likely to be accused by the Hague Tribunal.
"The Tribunal's global position in favour of the victims did not prevent it from denouncing war crimes (albeit in a smaller measure) committed by the Government of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the territory under its control. adds Tribunal member José Luis Gordillo, Professor of Law at Barcelona University. is nothing heroic about war. Atrocities are committed by the supporters of even the best causes".
The "international communitv" was also criticised for its complicity in the horror. According to Tribunal Member Xavier Giró, "UN and EU negotiators have supported, since the beginning of the war, peace plans which accepted ethnicity as a valid criteria for reorganising Bosnia-Herzegovina. These criteria are those presented by the aggressors in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in opposition to the multi-culturalism and pluri-ethnic criteria of he government in Sarajevo. How should we qualify the EU anc JN? Negligent? Careless? Inditterence to basic moral values? Connivance? Co-operation?"
The Tribunal's public hearings allowed deeper debate of a number of legal and humanitarian issues, including the use of rape as an arm of ethnic cleansing. According to the presentation of Dones per Dones (Women for Women) a Catalan eminist solidarity movement with former Yugoslavia, "We have to respect the individual's right to silence and secrecy about crimes committed against her. But we have a duty to speak out on the generalised problem which rape in war poses". The Tribunal criticised the fact that acts of 'ethnic sexual violence' are still not recognised as a war crime, or as a potential act of genocide, and recommended that the Hague Tribunal amend its remit accordingly. Other presentations at the hearings condemned the practice of most European Union states, which do not recognise rape in wartime as proof of persecution as a member of a particular social group (such as women, or Muslim women). As a result, women who have fled ex-Yugoslavia after being raped cannot claim refugee status.
The Tribunal also stressed the important role played by bellicose, chauvinist and authoritarian media, "above all those controlled by the Serbian overnment, and, to a lesser extent, those controlled by the roatian government, according to Xavier Giró, Lecturer ir Journalism at the Autonomous Universitv of Barcelona. But the tribunal was careful not to condem all the media of former Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, because of time constraints, the Tribunal was unable to analyse and discuss the role of the media in as much detail as it had hoped.
The Tribunal, which has no judicial or diplomatic authority, aims to provide an independent, but thorough and impartial evaluation of the claims of human rights groups. Organisers hope that this process will create a stronger momentum of concern about those accusations which the Tribunal considers to be well-founded. According to the organising committee, "the persons and organisations who have participated actively in the protest against the war during these past years must make our dissent more widely known. We must also insist on punishment for those responsible for the crimes against humanity, and demand peace negotiations which do not grant territorial distributions which reward the aggressors, but rather re-establish the principles of justice. The session of the Tribunal should become an instrument for pressuring in favour of and lemanding a just peace. At the same time, it should especiall upport the people of bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as th organisations from other republics which have taken part in the fight against totalitarian and xenophobic governments.
The Barcelona hearings were organised with the wide participation of the Catalan and Spanish peace movement, The earings were also an opportunity for activists from a wide range ot Bosnia solidarity movements to exchange information, and discuss how to continue their work after the signing of the Dayton-Paris "peace" accords. JD| * Notes Contact: TPP, c/Pau Claris 89 entl., 08010 Barcelona, Spain. Fax +34.3/301 7562 1. Organisers included Europa per Bòsnia, Fundació per la Pau, Justicia i Pau, and the magazines En Pie de Paz and Mientras Tanto. Supporting organisations included Workers Aid for Bosnia (Spain), the Catalan Campaign against the Arms Trade, Comitè Oscar Romero, Dones per Dones, Fundació Nous Horizons, Fundació Pau i Solidaritat de COO, SOS Racisme and Paz Ahora de Madrid
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