GENEVA : Defining War Crimes
Experts on international law gather in this Swiss city Monday to work out the guiding principles for a war crimes tribunal to bring to justice those accused of committing atrocities in the bloody war in the Balkans. The five-member panel’s recommendations are to guide U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali in drafting a mandate for the proposed war crimes court.
The tribunal has strong backing from the United States and Western Europe, but it remains in the early stage.
Meanwhile, the Balkan combatants press on with practices that are likely to be deemed war crimes: expulsion of rival ethnic groups, detention of civilians and organized beatings, rapes and murders in quest of territorial control.
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