INTERNATIONAL
ROUND TABLE
DIFFICULT RECONCILIATION
February 14, 2001
Hotel “Park”, Vogosca
Participants of the round table “Difficult
Reconciliation” held in Vogosca on February 14,
2001 and organized by the Helsinki Committee for
Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the
Norwegian Helsinki Committee and Association of
Citizens “Truth and Reconciliation” have
reached, after a debate, the following
CONCLUSIONS
- We point out to the irreplaceable role of
the International Criminal Tribunal in
the Hague in establishment and punishment
of war crimes, crimes of genocide and
crimes against humanity. We invite
authorities in Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, Croatia and Bosnia and
Herzegovina to unconditional cooperation
with the Tribunal in the Hague including
handing over of the accused for crimes
committed.
- We are convinced that the process of
confidence rebuilding and reconciliation
in the region and within each of our
countries can be accelerated and
alleviated through work of independent
Truth and Reconciliation Commissions.
Work of the Commissions should be
complementary to the work of the ICTY and
should supplement the truth on events of
the last decade. With the primary
objective of the ICTY being prosecution
and punishment of criminals, the primary
goal of the envisaged Commissions should
be reconciliation through truth and
laying of foundations for future
cooperation and not for wars. Because of
that, we wholeheartedly support
initiatives for establishment of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on the
above stated premises with a strong
determination not to endanger neither the
work of the ICTY nor the need to punish
crime perpetrators.
- We invite all civil society subjects,
religious communities, political parties,
non-governmental organizations, media and
educational institutions to contribute
through their actions to building of
tolerant and open societies in the
countries of the region, to support
reconciliation and rebuilding of
confidence among members of different
national, religious and cultural
communities.
- Promotion of cooperation among the
countries of South East Europe is of
utmost importance, both at the level of
governments and at the level of citizens,
businessmen, NGO activists and everybody
else who can contribute to turning this
part of the world into a region of peace
and friendly cooperation. It is necessary
to provide the Stability Pact for
SouthEast Europe with more concrete
contents as this initiative is a viable
framework for building relationships in
the region which would bring our
countries closer to integration into
Europe.
Participants of the International
Round Table
“Difficult Reconciliation”