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March 08, 2006

U.S. Cites Human Rights Issues In Balkans

Serbian Radical Party supporters at a demonstration backing war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic and other top war-era fugitives at a Belgrade rally last month (epa)

PRAGUE, March 8, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The U.S. State Department says in its annual Human Rights report that Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia and Montenegro continue to have serious rights violations.
Turning to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the report issued in Washington today says "the government's human rights record remained poor; although there were improvements in some areas."


It said that the security situation in sensitive areas did not improve for displaced people returning home. And it said "police responsiveness to incidents targeting minority returnees did not improve."


Turning to Serbia and Montenegro, the report said civilian authorities generally maintain effective control of security forces.


But it noted that "there were a few instances in which elements of the security forces acted independently of government authority." The report said this included "arbitrary arrest and selective enforcement of the law for political purposes."


Regarding the province of Kosova, the report said that there were apparent ethnically-motivated killings of Serbs there during the year.


For an overview of the State Department report, click here.


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