HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CALLS FOR COOPERATION WITH INTERNATIONAL PROSECUTOR’S INVESTIGATION INTO KOSOVO MASSACRE

HR/99/03
17 January 1999



The following statement was issued today by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson:

I was shocked and outraged by the massacre, seemingly by Serb forces, of some 45 ethnic Albanians in southern Kosovo two days ago. I join Secretary-General Kofi Annan and others in condemning in the strongest possible terms this heinous crime. The perpetrators of killings must swiftly be brought to justice.

As High Commissioner for Human Rights I support efforts by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Louise Arbour, to conduct an immediate investigation into the massacre. I call on the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia to provide full cooperation to the prosecutor and to do all in their power to prevent further atrocities.