Washington, March 25 (RFE/RL) - A senior U.S. official says the implementation of the Bosnian peace accord has led to an improvement in human rights conditions in the former Yugoslav republic.
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for human rights John Shattuck said today that a lot of work remains to be done in Bosnia, but he contends that, "the miracle of everyday life is slowly, steadily returning to Bosnia."
He spoke to reporters in Washington today to review the results of an international conference on human rights in Bosnia that met in Vienna earlier this month.
Shattuck says the Vienna roundtable, as the conference was named, was a significant event. He says it made progress is many areas. Participants, he says, agreed on the continuing need to put an international "spotlight" on rights abuses; to secure commitments to human rights compliance from the peace accord signatories; to build institutions of justice and to continue isolating indicted war criminals.
Shattuck says a "terrible human rights catastrophe," lies at the heart of the conflict in bosnia.