AJC Urges NATO to Arrest Milosevic

American Jewish Committee
Friday, 14 July 2000

Five years after the massacre of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslims in the UN "safe area" of Srebrenica, the American Jewish Committee's Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights is urging the prompt arrest of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and others indicted for war crimes in Bosnia.

The AJC is deeply concerned "over reports that a place of refuge is being considered for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic," Honorary AJC President Robert S. Rifkind, chair of the Blaustein Institute, wrote in a letter to President Clinton this week. "The world should know that the United States will respond firmly to any attempt to grant asylum to Milosevic or any other indicted war criminal."

Letting Milosevic flee to safety might serve to get him out of Yugoslavia, but "it would not eliminate the danger that he would continue to destabilize Yugoslavia through his extensive network of loyalists," said Mr. Rifkind. "We firmly believe that Milosevic should be arrested promptly and delivered to The Hague to stand trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia," Mr. Rifkind said.

For more than eight years, AJC has taken a leading role in calling for strong and effective international action against those responsible for ethnic-cleansing and other atrocities in the former Yugoslavia. Through its Blaustein Institute, AJC has pressed U.S. and UN officials to protect civilians, and to bring the indicted perpetrators to trial.

The full text of Mr. Rifkind's letter to President Clinton follows:

"On the fifth anniversary of the massacre in Srebrenica, the worst mass killing in Europe since the Holocaust, I must share with you our grave concern over reports that a place of refuge is being considered for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. We firmly believe that Milosevic should be arrested promptly and delivered to The Hague to stand trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

"The United States should make it unequivocally clear that any country that provides Milosevic with safe haven would be in violation of international law and the statute creating the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The world should know that the United States will respond firmly to any attempt to grant asylum to Milosevic or any other indicted war criminal. While letting Milosevic flee to safety might serve to get him out of Yugoslavia, it would not eliminate the danger that he would continue to destabilize Yugoslavia through his extensive network of loyalists. Moreover, granting him impunity would inevitably give heart to other indicted war criminals who will be tempted by careers of crimes against humanity in the years ahead.

"Most important, the abandonment of any attempt to enforce the warrants for Slobodan Milosevic, or Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic, and Ratko Mladic would make a mockery of the International Criminal Tribunal and of the civilized world's commitment to enforcing the rule of law. That tribunal stands as one of the great legacies of your administration. It must not be scrapped in the misguided pursuit of short-term expediency. Granting a safe haven to the most prominent indicted war criminals would dishonor your legacy, disgrace the tribunal, and dim the prospects of establishing the rule of law.

"Mr. President, I implore you to make the pursuit of Milosevic and the other indicted war criminals a high priority for the NATO-led forces in the Balkans."

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org