The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has decided that, in the interest of justice, two Bosnian Serb paramilitaries charged with multiple crimes – and whose cases are factually very closely related – will be tried jointly.
The former head of Bosnian Muslim forces during the Balkan wars of the 1990s went on trial today at the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on charges that include murder, rape and torture.
The senior United Nations envoy to Kosovo today urged the Security Council to quickly draw up a roadmap for determining the status of the province, which the world body has administered since NATO troops drove out Yugoslav forces amid inter-ethnic fighting in 1999.
Just ahead of the anniversary of an agreement signed by the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders on the framework for resuming full negotiations, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged “real engagement” on the issue.
The United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has expressed concern to authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina about the circumstances surrounding the recent escape from a local jail of a man serving a 20-year sentence for the rape and sexual assault of Muslim women and girls during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
Kosovo’s overall progress towards building a functioning economy and establishing democratic institutions of self-government has been encouraging, but those advances could soon unravel unless the Serbian province’s future status is determined, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says.
The United Nations refugee agency and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) are joining forces to call for more action to prevent deaths among boatpeople making dangerous voyages across the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Aden and other stretches of water.
The United Nations Police chief in Kosovo has banned the use of rubber bullets by any police unit in the UN-run province, he said today, adding that Member States who contribute officers are also being consulted about outlawing their use in all other peacekeeping operations.
The top United Nations official in Cyprus has welcomed the announcement by the Committee on Missing Persons concerning the positive identification of the bodies of 28 missing persons and its plans to start returning the remains to the families concerned.
The United Nations should review whether rubber bullets should ever be used again for crowd control use on a UN peacekeeping mission, an official tasked with probing the killing by UN police of two pro-independence demonstrators in Kosovo said today.
