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Let the war crimes tribunal do its
work |
By Borut Grgic International
Herald Tribune
Wednesday, March 9,
2005
| The Balkans
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia Rare are moments in
history when the fate of so many nations depends on an international
tribunal. This is the case today in the Balkans, where the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia stands in
between the Balkan nations, their past and their future.
On
Tuesday, Kosovo government sources confirmed that the tribunal had
indicted Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj for war crimes. How
Haradinaj and the Kosovo Albanians react to the indictment will open
or close the doors on independence for Kosovo. If Haradinaj goes to
the tribunal in The Hague voluntarily, and if the Albanians ensure a
peaceful transition, there will be renewed pressure on the
international community to move toward a discussion on final
status.
The start of Croatia's process of accession to the
European Union now depends on whether Zagreb can demonstrate that it
has done all in its power to extradite General Ante Gotovina to The
Hague. The foreign ministers of the 25 EU member states will meet on
March 16 to decide whether Croatia has cooperated fully with the
tribunal, which was a precondition for EU entry. So far, Carla Del
Ponte, the tribunal's chief prosecutor, says Croatia has failed to
fulfill its end of the bargain.
In Belgrade, meanwhile, the
Serbian government has been reluctant to back the international
tribunal; Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, in particular, has
preferred not to put pressure on the indicted. Only recently, it
seems, is Kostunica beginning to pay heed to international pressure,
mostly from America. The big test for Belgrade is General Ratko
Mladic. Unless Serbia drastically improves its record with The
Hague, it is unlikely to be allowed to take the first formal steps
on the road to EU membership.
The tribunal also hangs over
Bosnia's shoulder, standing in between Bosnia's splintered past and
its EU and NATO future.
The worry is that many in the region
are growing tired of the tribunal. They argue that it has been
ineffective, and as a result are urging that the international
community relax conditions on cooperation with the tribunal. They
argue that Belgrade, for example, cannot be held accountable to the
tribunal and at the same time cooperate on the final status of
Kosovo.
Downgrading the importance of the international
tribunal at this point would be a mistake. It would reward all those
politicians in the region who have actively sought to cheat their
way into the EU and NATO by ignoring or refusing to cooperate with
the court. The international tribunal has always been not just about
legal justice, but also about reconciliation and minorities. Much
work remains to be done on all three fronts in the Balkans.
A majority of Croats - 55 percent - still think that the
government of Prime Minister Ivo Sanader should refuse to extradite
Gotovina. This raises questions over whether they have come to terms
with the fact that gross crimes and human rights violations were
committed in their name, and in the name of Croatia.
Across
the border in Serbia, Justice Minister Zoran Stojkovic recently
called the indicted General Miletic, "honest, patriotic and
moral."
It is not surprising, then, that progress on
protection of minorities in the region remains unsatisfactory.
Croatia has not managed to integrate its Serbian minority,
and many Croat politicians are frank about being uninterested in
repatriating Serbs. Belgrade has failed miserably in integrating and
protecting the rights of the Albanian minority in Serbia.
Despite some positive recent developments, Kosovo's track
record on protecting the province's Serbs is unsatisfactory. With
Haradinaj stepping down as prime minister, progress made thus far
could be undone. Bosnia, for its part, remains a divided country;
Sarajevo, once was a bastion of multiethnicity, is now populated
mostly by Muslims.
The lack of concern for minority issues
is giving rise to separatism across the region, which in turn keeps
alive radical nationalist agendas of redrawing borders.
The
European Community was initially built to help neighbors move beyond
war. It has since evolved into a union of values and norms, and one
of those norms is protecting minorities. All western Balkan states
still fail miserably on this count.
The international
tribunal in The Hague was created not to punish Balkan nations, or
make their road to EU accession harder, but to help them hold
accountable those who decided that genocide and rape were acceptable
in post-World War II Europe. Nor was the international tribunal ever
meant to represent the sole form of reconciliation for the Balkans,
which will not take place without parallel local
processes.
Finally, the same degree of scrutiny must be
applied across the spectrum. If we are asking Belgrade and Zagreb to
deliver their war criminals, then Pristina will have to too. If we
are going to cut corners with Zagreb, how can we possibly then
expect to hold Belgrade, or Pristina, or Sarajevo accountable? Not
upholding international norms and standards in the Balkans will make
it that much harder to uphold them
internationally.
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