16 December 1992

Doc. 6727

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS

on the practice of systematic rape in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Declaration by the Committee of Ministers

(Adopted on 9 December 1992 at the 484bis meeting of the Ministers' Deputies)

      The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe recalls its previous declarations on the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and in particular its condemnation in the strongest terms of the brutal violations of human rights and international humanitarian law perpetrated during this conflict.

      On this International Human Rights Day, it deplores one particularly vile aspect of the treatment meted out in recent months, namely the systematic gang-rape of women and children, in particular those belonging to the Muslim population.

      Numerous reports, notably that of Mr Mazowiecki, point to the organised and planned use of these rapes as a commonplace military measure intended to totally humiliate the enemy and drive it into exodus.

      Such a degree of barbarity, rarely seen, is intolerable in the eyes of our nations. On this day of human rights, those who perpetrate such crimes must realise that they shall not go unpunished.