Written Statement – Item 14 (c) of the provisional agenda

Mass exoduses and displaced persons: Return of refugees and IDPs in Bosnia

According to Annex VII of the Dayton Peace Agreement of 1995 for Bosnia and Herzegovina, all Bosnian refugees and displaced persons have the right to return to their homes, regardless of their ethnic or religious background. Although Bosnia and Herzegovina had been an ethnically diverse country, 48 percent of the country were subjected to the Serbian war party (SDS) as the Republic Srpska. 750.000 Bosnian Serbs and the same number of non-Serb Bosnians (Muslim, Croat, and Yugoslavian and Roma Bosnians) lived in this territory. 98 percent of the non-Serbs were violently expelled. The Republic Srpska continues to be governed by the former party of Karadzic, the SDS. Numerous members of the SDS are war criminals who have so far prevented the return of non-Serb Bosnians. They were responsible for a mass exodus, massacres, mass rapes, as well as torture and the systematic killings in the concentration camps. The present director of the police forces in the Republic Srpska and close confident of Ratko Mladic, Dragan Andan, was involved in the genocide of Srebrenica in July 1995. The commission for the investigation of the massacre in Srebrenica listed 19.473 Serbs who had participated in the brutal police operation. 892 of them continue to hold important offices in the police forces, schools, and courts of the Republic Srpska. Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic are yet to be captured. Due to a lack of political initiative, the international community has so far failed to turn them over to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

According to the UNHCR and the Bosnian ministery for refugees and displaced persons, 1.000.473 of the 2.2 million victims of the ethnic cleansing are supposed to have returned; three quarters of them to Bosnia and Herzegovina and one quarter to the Republic Srpska. 21.382 people are supposed to have returned to the district of Brcko. The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) refuses to believe in the authenticity of these numbers. Not more than 5 to 8 percent of those who were expelled between 1992 and 1995 returned to Republic Srpska. The vast majority of them was registered under their former addresses and obtained an ID accordingly, yet they fear physical abuse, provocation, harassment and thus do not return to their former homes.

In most cases, the police forces of the Republic Srpska do not investigate or punish the violations of human rights if they are committed against returning non-Serbs. Moreover, non-Serb Bosnians are denied medical care and pensions, running water, electricity and telephone access. Public authorities often refuse to provide them with important permits and documents. Officially, 90 percent of their property were returned, but property rights continue to be breached. In 124 villages of the Drina Region Muslim Bosnians were dispossessed, and their land was given to Bosnian Serbs. The children of former refugees and returning IDPs are only taught Serbian history, language and culture. The international community tolerates these apartheid policies.

According to estimations of our human rights organisation, only 30 to 40 percent of the 1.000.473 have returned. While an increasing number of people continue to return to Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially to the canton Sarajevo and the cities Mostar, Jajce, Konjic and Stolac), only 5 to 8 percent of the non-Serbian population have returned to the ethnically cleansed Republic Srpska.

Until today, only one thousand of the formerly 37.000 Muslim Bosnians (pre-war situation: 74,8%) have returned to the district (Opstina) of Srebrenica. Another 4000 settled down in the 59 surrounding villages. More than 80.000 non-Serbs had been expelled from the districts Visegrad, Vlasenica, Rogatica, Zvornik, Bratunac, Zepa, Foca, and Cajnice. Before the war the population of these cities was mostly Muslim. The number of returning IPDs to these cities is very low. Only one thousand Muslim Bosnians have returned to the Opstina Visegrad (pre-war situation: 62,8%, 21,000 inhabitants); only 10 settled down in the city. 2000 Bosniacs have returned to the villages surrounding Foca; only 30 live in the city now (pre-war situation: 51,6%, 40.500 inhabitants). 200 people have have returned to Zepa, formerly proctected by the UN.

Tens of thousands of Bosnians are waiting for their safe return to the Republic Srpska. 350.000 people still live in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hundreds of thousands escaped to Europe, North America and Australia.

The Society for Threatened Peoples appeals to the UN Human Rights Commission to urge the international community of states, especially the NATO and EU member states to:

• provide the SFOR/EUFOR with a clear mandate for the capture of the war criminals Mladic and Karadzic and put them in charge of the safe return of the refugees and IDPs.

• change the constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, suspend the Republic Srpska as well as the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and prohibit the war party SDS.

• bestow a special status on the community of Srebrenica and finance an economy and reconstruction program.