Genocide survivors visited IFIMES

Director of the International Institute for Middle Eastern and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) M.Sc. Zijad Bećirović and Vice-President of the Institute's Advisory Board Prof. Dr. Ernest Petrič received Munira Subašić, President of the Association Movement "Mothers of the Enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa", and Murat Tahirović, President of the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide, reports the Patria News Agency.  

The International Institute IFIMES continuously monitors and analyzes developments in the area of ​​grave breaches of international humanitarian law, particularly for the territory of the former SFRY.

In this regard, IFIMES has provided and continues to provide support to international and national judicial bodies in prosecuting all crimes committed in the territory of the former SFRY, as well as support to victims in implementing international legal norms that address victims' rights.

This time too, support for the work of the ICTY and the Residual Mechanism, as the legal successor of the ICTY, was emphasized, i.e., the common desire and efforts to complete the work of the ICTY and the Residual Mechanism in accordance with the highest international legal standards and to avoid additional unprincipled actions and decisions that marked the end of the work of this international court.

Also, it is of particular importance that the ICTY continues its work in Sarajevo after 2017 on cases that the ICTY has already approved and designated according to the rules of the Rome Statute, and which have been submitted to the Prosecutor's Office of BiH and have not yet been prosecuted.

Discussions also covered support for the structural dialogue in the area of ​​justice in BiH, which is conducted under the auspices of the international community, and the emphasized need to intensify the prosecution of war criminals in BiH. In this regard, an urgent change to the current so-called State Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes in BiH is needed with the help and support of the international community and the ICTY.

Prof. Dr. Ernest Petrič, current member and former President of the UN International Law Commission (ILC) and recently President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, expressed support for efforts to achieve truth, justice, and consequently reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region. The continuation of the ICTY's work in Sarajevo after 2017 on cases previously designated and approved for prosecution under the rules of the Rome Statute would certainly contribute to this, IFIMES announced.