Balkan Cooperation on War Crimes Issues. Updated January 14, 2008; Congressional rept

摘要

Balkan cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague remains an issue of ongoing U.S. and international concern. By January 2008, only four indicted individuals were still at large, although two of them included top wartime Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic, both under indictment since 1995 for genocide and crimes against humanity. Full cooperation with ICTY has long been a key prerequisite to further progress toward a shared goal for the western Balkan countries: closer association with and eventual membership in the European Union and NATO. This policy of conditionality has affected Serbia the most, but also other western Balkan countries. Some critics charge that conditionality policy has outlived its usefulness, while others insist that the remaining indicted suspects especially Mladic and Karadzic face trial before ICTY closes its doors in 2010 or 2011. The second session of the 110th Congress is likely to consider recurring legislation on linking U.S. assistance to Serbia with ICTY cooperation. This report will be updated as events warrant. For related information, see CRS Report RS21686, Conditions on U.S. Aid to Serbia, by Steven Woehrel.