HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA

Releases About Srebrenica and Zepa

13, 20, 31 July 1995.

Belgrade, July 13, 1995

Now that military forces of Bosnian Serbs have occupied Srebrenica the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia strongly condemns the indifference with which both domestic public and the United Nations accept the act of violation of the so-called protected zone the UN are duty bound to protect. This dangerous precedent opens the door to new conflicts and occupation of other protected zones in Bosnia-Herzegovina as well. The Helsinki Committee holds that the United Nations should start protecting, without delay, not only citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina but also their own authority.

Under the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide the latest atrocities against Muslims in the Srebrenica enclave have all the elements of genocide. Therefore, the Helsinki Committee demands the international community to exert strong pressure on Bosnian Serbs to make them respect the fundamental international standards in the protection of expelled persons.

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Belgrade, July 20, 1995

Prompted by the latest developments - the attacks on Zepa and other protected zones in Bosnia-Herzegovina - the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia strongly protests against flagrant violation of fundamental human rights that are guaranteed under the UN Charter and all the resolutions on protected zones the UN Security Council has adopted so far. The Helsinki Committee calls upon the international community to take all necessary measures to put an end to this humanitarian catastrophe.

The Helsinki Committee strongly opposes any acceptance of war outcomes as faits accomplis, which implies approval of the crimes committed in the name of the Greater Serbia project. By failing to respond the international factors not only silently witness a continued genocide against Muslim population but also plunge the Serb people into lasting isolation and confinement of chauvinistic ideals.

The Helsinki Committee calls upon the international community to take all necessary steps to end the war and create preconditions for future, peaceful solutions.

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Belgrade, July 31, 1995

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia voices concern over the aggravated situation of human rights in the entire territory of former Yugoslavia, notably in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Unfortunately, the international community's inadequate attitude considerably contributes to such situation. In this context, the Committee fully supports the ethnical action by Tadeusz Masowiecki taken in the attempt to once more draw attention to the crimes against civilians.

In spite of all, the Helsinki Committee hopes the international community would find courage to more efficiently and consequently counteract crimes and would exert itself in assisting all the innocent victims of this war. The Committee also hopes the international community would prosecute all those who are responsible, without exception.

The Committee underlines that any concession of crime is counterproductive and incites new crimes.