Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in territories of former Yugoslavia to visit Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

HR/98/68
9 September 1998




The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Jiri Dienstbier, will undertake a 10-day mission to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia starting Thursday, 10 September 1998.

Mr. Dienstbier’s extended tour will take him to the Republic of Montenegro, through the Sandyak area in Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia, and to the province of Kosovo.

In Belgrade, Mr. Dienstbier will meet with Yugoslav Minister for Foreign Affairs, Zivadin Jovanovic, and with Government officials of the Republic of Serbia. He plans to visit individuals in Belgrade prison and the prison hospital where several persons arraigned in regional courts in Kosovo have been brought for detention and medical treatment. He will also meet representatives of domestic non-governmental organizations.

In Montenegro, the Special Rapporteur plans to meet with Republic President Milo Djukanovic, as well as with Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic and other Montenegrin Government officials. He will travel from Ulcinj to Bijelo, Polje, Rozaje, Novi Pazar and then to Pristina, meeting en route with Government officials, humanitarian workers, human rights advocates, and others.

In Kosovo, Mr. Dienstbier plans to meet with local authorities, representatives of Kosovo Albanians, as well as with domestic and international non-governmental organizations. The Special Rapporteur will also travel to locations outside Pristina, the itinerary for which is still being arranged.

Since his appointment in late March 1998, the Special Rapporteur has conducted a mission to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 5 to 8 April, during which he visited Belgrade and Pristina. He visited Bosnia and Herzegovina from 4 to 9 July and the Republic of Croatia from 9 to 15 July. In late October or early November, the Special Rapporteur will deliver to the General Assembly his regularly scheduled report on the human rights situation in the countries of his mandate.