Global Policy Forum

Representatives from 30 countries attended a donor conference today to raise $38 million for a new war crimes court in Bosnia that will lighten the load at the U.N. tribunal in the Netherlands, due to finish its work by 2010. The U.S., which is the largest funder of the U.N. tribunal, will give $11 million to support the new War Crimes Chamber that will operate within Bosnia's state court system, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes, Pierre Richard Prosper, said in Bosnia a day ahead of the conference. The U.K., Germany and Italy also pledged donations ahead of the meeting at the U.N. court in The Hague, but the bulk of funding still needs to be raised. The conference was attended by officials from nearly every European country, the European Union Commission, Canada, Japan, several Balkan nations and E.U. accession states, said Oleg Milisic, spokesman for the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia. Milisic said the court will need $17 million to become operational in the first two years and will cost $38 million over five years. If $17 million isn't promised Thursday, the court's establishment could be threatened, he said.

As the U.N. tribunal struggles to handle dozens of cases in just three courtrooms, the special court in Bosnia will help meet a 2008 deadline for wrapping up all trials and appeals by 2010. Tribunal president Theodor Meron has already warned that the deadline is optimistic with 17 suspects still at large and more indictments expected. The most prominent suspect on trial in The Hague is former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who faces 66 counts of war crimes for alleged atrocities during a decade of wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. The court has held or is holding 28 trials, involving 44 defendants, with 31 more defendants in pretrial proceedings. Among suspects still at large are former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his wartime commander, Ratko Mladic, both wanted on genocide charges for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre when 7,500 Muslims were executed at the end of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

The new court, to be based in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, is initially expected to take over around 15 lower-level cases from the Yugoslav tribunal, established in 1993 by the U.N. Security Council to prosecute military and political leaders responsible for Balkan atrocities since 1991. Despite the gradual reestablishment of democratic institutions and the return of peace to Bosnia, local courts still face serious difficulties, including a lack of cooperation between the Bosnian Serb-controlled half of the country and the Muslim-Croat federation. Political opposition also remains a major obstacle.

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