PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL'S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL'S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Elisabeth Rehn, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Coordinator of United Nations Operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, briefed correspondents this afternoon on the problems and achievements of her first two months in Sarajevo.

She said that the International Police Task Force (IPTF), which was responsible for carrying out her main task of training, monitoring and certifying local police in Bosnia, had been successful in eight of the country's 10 cantons. "But the two remaining in the western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina are Croat-dominated and the Croats do not want to have cooperation today."

A recent audience with President Franjo Tudjman to seek his support for more cooperation from the Croats had not succeeded, she said, adding that "Unfortunately, that failed and the speech that President Tudjman [gave at] his party congress has not been very helpful for cooperation in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina."

However, she said, the positives had outweighed the negatives and she was more optimistic than when she took on the assignment. Her office had, in cooperation with the Stabilization Force (SFOR) and the Office of the High Representative for Implementation of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina, had overseen the so-called "principals' meeting", which took place twice a week and sometimes on an ad hoc basis when necessary. "We have really, in cooperation, made some achievements which are making the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina come closer to each other. But of course a lot remains still to be done." They had been pleased with the new government's commitment to fulfil the Dayton Agreement.

Speaking about the 2,027 international police officers from 42 nations currently working with the local force, Ms. Rehn said she had raised with the United States State Department, the Pentagon and the Security Council the need for longer mandates from the providing countries. "Quite a few of them have only six months, and you can well imagine that when you come from somewhere with a very different culture and if you are staying only six months, a couple of months are spent just to learn and then you have some effective, efficient months and then you are already thinking of going back home again." Many countries had year-long mandates, which should be the ideal.

She said she had also raised the issue of training and certification procedures. Many of the local police had been good professionals, although not all may have been so interested in human rights while carrying out their duties. That was something that could be taught to them. "It is important

Rehn Briefing - 2 - 20 March 1998

that we are looking at the training programme so that we are not offending anyone who is a professional from before."

Ms. Rehn stressed the need for more female officers, both among the IPTF and the local police. Family violence and rape were not ranked high in the priority of investigators. "These are bad crimes and they must also be investigated and there we need more female police, both from the IPTF and on the local level."

But even a splendid local police was no help if the trial process and courts were not impartial, she stressed. "If the judge is from one ethnicity and the accused from another, then the outcome of the trial can be very negative for the accused." That was unacceptable and there was a unified opinion among the international and local lawyers association that the IPTF should continue with court monitoring, but that trained lawyers under the supervision of her Deputy should professionally monitor the trials "so that we can provide other organizations with accurate information for training of lawyers. This is a very big procedure but it is necessary to have this."

She said her office had been assigned new tasks at the peace implementation conference in Bonn, especially the fight against fraud and smuggling, ensuring better border control and curbing organized crime. Teaching the local police to cope with those tasks meant that more resources and specialized, well-trained policing experts would be required, an issue she had raised with the Security Council. Another issue was the need for the IPTF Commissioner to have the right to send back home international police who were not well qualified for their work. "This should be a good example for the local police. Therefore it is important that we do not have to look on any kind of governmental questions; if somebody is not good, he or she should be sent home. That goes for all countries -- it could as well be the United States or Nepal or Jordan or Finland or whatever."

Asked by a correspondent whether the conflict in Kosovo was impacting on her work, Ms. Rehn said there were rumours about a spillover from that province of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and about Serbs from Bosnia and Herzegovina leaving to assist Serbs in Kosovo. The rumours were being taken seriously and SFOR, as well as her office, had asked for all available information so that they could determine whether there was a pattern.

Another correspondent asked whether there was opposition from the United States because of the need for more IPTF officers and the additional money involved. Ms. Rehn said the United States was "on board" both with the IPTF work and with the additional money because they found the work important. A total of 30 more IPTF officers as well as 26 lawyers were needed for the legal reform. She had signalled that the number of lawyers could be cut down to 19, so that there would be two lawyers in each of the Federation's seven regions and five at headquarters.

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