From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 24 Jan 93 08:36 PST
Subject: BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA: Amnesty tells o
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476701027:000:4819
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Jan 24 08:36:00 1993


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA: Amnesty tells o

/* Written 12:14 am  Jan 24, 1993 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in
igc:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1993, all
rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA: Amnesty tells of rape and other
violations

brussels, jan 21 (ips) -- rape and other kinds of sexual assault
are widespread in bosnia-hercegovina, with women often being
captured by soldiers specifically to be violated, amnesty
international says in one of two reports published thursday.

in the report entitled 'bosnia-hercegovina: rape and sexual abuse
by armed forces', the human rights group identifies cases in which
women have been raped by soldiers passing through their town, or
by guards in detention centres.

many women have also been held in hotels and other buildings that
have been converted into bordellos for soldiers, amnesty says.
some have disappeared afterwards.

some of the women described their ordeal to a journalist from the
u.s. paper 'newsday', and these are contained in the report which
tells of the systematic rape last june in caparde, in northern
bosnia, of 40 muslim women aged 15 to 30, by serbian paramilitary
forces.

one young woman said a rapist threatened her with a hand grenade
and justified his actions by telling her that she and the other
women would have each been raped by 10 men if soldiers under the
command of the serbian radical vojislav seselj had been there.

amnesty says while it is open to question whether rape has been
chosen deliberately by the military authorities as a weapon of
war, it is clear that many local officers must have known of the
offences and either condoned them or chose to ignore them.

''that level of indifference is all too blatant across a
frightening range of human rights abuses in bosnia-hercegovina,
particularly as rape and other abuses can amount to a grave breach
of the geneva conventions,'' amnesty says.

the group adds that while all sides in the conflict are guilty of
atrocities, the main offenders come from the serbian armed forces,
and the main victims have been muslim women.

in one such case, a 17-year-old muslim girl told a doctor that
serbs took her and other women from her village to huts in nearby
woods.

she was held there for three months, along with 23 other women,
although she believes she saw about 100 women in all being
unloaded. she was among 12 women who were raped repeatedly in
front of the others; the women that tried to defend her were
beaten by the soldiers.

to bring to justice those responsible for rape and other human
rights violations, amnesty has called upon the united nations to
set up an international tribunal as soon as possible. in brussels,
the group also called upon the european community (ec) to take
stronger action in bosnia.(more/ips)

bosnia-hercegovina: amnesty tells of rape and other
violations(2-e)

bosnia-hercegovina: amnesty (2)

the appeal and the publication of the reports coincided with the
delivery in geneva of 500,000 letters written, on amnesty's
request, by people from all over the world protesting against the
violence in the former yugoslavia. parties in the conflict are
negotiating peace in geneva.

in its second report, 'bosnia-hercegovina: rana u dusi -- a wound
to the soul', amnesty describes the atrocities committed in
bosanski petrovac between april and november 1992. the town's fall
and events that accompanied it are recounted in a diary written by
a muslim man.

after muslims had lost their jobs, serbian soldiers set fire to
muslim homes, imprisoned the men and killed civilians so that
thousands of people had no other option but to flee, according to
the diary.

its writer illustrated the fear in which the muslims lived.  ''the
coming night is uncertain,'' he wrote. ''one awaits it with fear
and trembling. the muslims are utterly terrified, conscious that
they are surrounded and left to the mercy of those whom no one can
pacify ... the time is ideal for murder, plunder ill- treatment,
rape and arson.''

daily intimidation, woundings, imprisonment, arrests and murders
occurred while the eyes of the world were fixed on what was taking
place in the detention camps, amnesty says.

even now, while peace for ex-yugoslavia is being negotiated in
geneva, human rights violations may spread because of hostilities
between bosnian croatian and bosnian government forces.

''those involved in the peace talks and the international
community should realise that human rights are a crucial part of
the future of the region and their violation is a massive black
spot in its present,'' amnesty says. ''does anyone in authority
care enough to stop the violations?''(end/ips/hr-ip/am/cpg/92)