Mayor Behmen, Judge Agius, Excellencies, highly esteemed Judges and Prosecutors, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a profound pleasure for me and a great honour to be here today with you, and to make short and introductory remarks for this seminar on the legacy of one of the most important institutions for this region that has come out of a very bad situation.
The ICTY has had an immensely beneficial impact in this country as well as in the rest of the region that we are calling the Former Yugoslavia. There can be no doubt that its ability as a catalyst, as the judge mentioned, its ability to establish facts, as the judge also mentioned, all are the real important legacies that the ICTY leaves behind.
Without the ICTY’s commitment to fight impunity and to deliver justice to all those who suffered during the conflicts, our combined efforts now to establish democratic rule and a state where rule of law governs would have been extremely difficult. Cases prosecuted and tried in The Hague have been instrumental for the development of peace and they represent a milestone for international justice. However, as the most important cases have or are being addressed a greater responsibility now falls to the national judiciaries.
The ICTY has been a guiding example for the local judicial system which has progressively taken the burden to prosecute and try very complex war crimes cases. In doing so, the local judicial systems have been supported by the ICTY in this process and its very important legacy. The European Commission has consistently supported the efforts of the local Judiciary through its sizeable investments with the Instrument for Pre Accession. Let me just note that for the 2012 – 2013 period, over 90 million marks have been planned for the Justice sector, out of which 34 million are planned as a direct support to processing war crimes cases.
The European Union’s support to the local Judiciary, however, has not been limited to financial assistance but it has also focused on the necessary reforms to uphold an efficient judicial system which guarantees the highest standards of independence, impartiality and accountability. Challenges to this goal are many, but we should all be clear on the point that without developing a fully independent judiciary, a country would stand little chance of making progress on the road of European Union integration.
Processing of war crimes, however, regardless of its importance, cannot stand alone as the only pillar in the reconstruction of a justice system in transition. Justice is a goal but at the same time is also a means to achieving a progressively reconciled society, cooperating in peace and prosperity. In this persuasion I believe and hope that this conference will help us understand how to best use the lessons learned by the ICTY and – by extension – the local judiciary in identifying means and activities necessary for the process of reconciliation.
These are some of the reasons why the Union continues to place much importance on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s efforts to cooperate with the ICTY. As stated in the European Commission’s recently published Progress Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina, cooperation with the ICTY is generally satisfactory. However, the report also emphasizes the EU’s expectation to see further progress on the issue of continued efforts to process war crimes cases – at an accelerated pace. Additionally, special emphasis also was also put on finally seeing progress in the cooperation between the Courts and the Prosecutors’ offices from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. The Protocol on sharing information and evidence in war crimes cases between the Prosecutors’ offices of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia is an important element in this cooperation, and we very much look forward to seeing this agreement signed. This will represent a significant step forward in terms of regional cooperation and the fight against impunity.
We remain committed to the Bosnia and Herzegovina judiciary, and also to supporting the ICTY through future multi-beneficiary IPA programmes for countries of former Yugoslavia.
I wish all the participants fruitful and successful discussions and once again – thank you very much for your time and thank you very much for listening.
