MEN indicted for mass rape in the former Yugoslavia may never be called to account for their crimes, a group of human rights lawyers has warned.
The continuing failure to arrest such men is a political decision which results in women being used as "negotiating tools in a nebulous political game," according to the Lawyers' International Forum for Women's Human Rights.
The forum, which was set up last May, is calling for the vigorous prosecution of rape as a war crime in the former Yugoslavia.
Two representatives, a London criminal barrister, Ms Sarah Maguire, and a Birmingham discrimination solicitor, Ms Madeline Rees, were part of a delegation which made a submission to the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ms Joan Burton, yesterday. Ms Burton is president of the EU council of development ministers. Last night the women addressed a meeting at the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.
The forum is calling on the International Criminal Tribunal ford former Yugoslavia in The Hague to use its powers more effectively to facilitate women victims of sexual violence appearing as witnesses in prosecutions against men.
The tribunal should be more "accessible" to these "vulnerable victims" by granting them anonymity as witnesses and allowing affidavit evidence to be used where appropriate, Ms Rees said.
The lack of anonymity for women victims means that many are afraid to testify.
Some 30,000 women were raped during the war in the former Yugoslavia, according to conservative estimates.
According to the forum, a "minute minority" of men suspected of sex crimes against women are in custody and indictments are usually not followed by arrests.
The International Force (Ifor) and the International Police Task Force have no mandate to arrest those indicted by the Hague tribunal, although they have the power to do so, said Ms Maguire.
"If Karadzic is speeding or goes through a roadblock he can be picked up, but they can't go out to find him," she said. "What we want is a mandate for people to find them."
According to Ms Maguire there is a desire to "sweep the issue under the carpet. I don't think that's unusual. It happens with sexual violence against women in all jurisdictions, from the local police officer who says to a woman `Don't make a fuss' right through to the international community preferring not to engage in the matters that would lead to the successful prosecution of men at the tribunal."
The Lawyers' International Forum for Women's Human Rights is at 20 High Street Bonsall, Derbyshire, UK.