Genocide Trial a Reminder of Bosnia's Displaced People

American Refugee Committee
Monday, 13 March 2000

The American Refugee Committee today urged the international community to remember the people of the Bosnian town of Srebrenica as a genocide trial unfolds at the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.

"More than four years after the horrible massacre there, the survivors of Srebrenica are still struggling to rebuild their lives under difficult conditions," ARC President Anthony Kozlowski said.

United Nations prosecutors today opened a trial of former Bosnian Serb general Radislav Krstic on genocide charges related to the 1995 killings of thousands of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, then a UN-designated "safe area."

"The trial beginning in the Hague today is a reminder of Europe's worst atrocity since World War II," Kozlowski said. "It is also a reminder that although the Dayton Peace Accords were signed four years ago, an estimated 840,000 persons are still displaced within Bosnia-Herzogovina and a further 350,000 are refugees."

Kozlowski said many of the women and children who fled Srebrenica have still not returned to their homes.

ARC's "Assistance to the Women of Srebrenica" program aims to help these survivors by providing housing and job skills. ARC is constructing 14 temporary apartment units for women and their families who are living in Bosnian Serb-owned housing in Ilijas Municipality, near Sarajevo.

These families have received eviction notices because the pre-war owners want to return to their property. But they are reluctant to return to Srebrenica because of continuing tensions there.

ARC has also built three greenhouses to provide jobs for displaced women and is establishing an agricultural association to manage them. It is also setting up community development programs to give business skills to these displaced women.

ARC plans to follow up in 2000-2001 with a program to prepare displaced Srebrenica families for their eventual return to their former communities.

"Long-term stability in the Balkans will not be realized unless all those responsible for genocide are brought to justice and until all refugees and displaced persons are able to return home in safety and dignity," Kozlowski said.

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