The war in the former Yugoslavia has involved widespread violations of human rights and humanitarian law, including mass killings and murder, systematic rape, torture, and other crimes against humanity. All parties to the present conflict in the Balkans have committed human rights violations, but the great majority have been perpetrated by Serb forces. Scores of civilians have been killed or wounded by snipers and cluster and napalm bombs used by Bosnian Serb forces. Six of these cities were designated safe areas by the United Nations in May 1993. This did not stop the shelling.
Serb authorities continue to deny international forensic teams access to the site.
During the summer of 1992, international investigators were denied access to detainees, but those who escaped described repeated atrocities. As many as 6,000 male Muslim detainees were shot and buried in mass graves. In August l992, the UN Commission on Human Rights established a Special Rapporteur to conduct on-site investigations into human rights violations and report on his findings. The Special Rapporteur maintains human rights monitors in Sarajevo, Mostar, Skopje, and Zagreb and has submitted a series of reports on violations throughout the former Yugoslavia. In October l992, the UN Security Council approved an impartial international investigation to identify persons responsible for human rights abuses and to discourage more ethnic-based violence.