"Beginning in January 1999 and continuing until June 20th, 1999, Slobodan Milosevic . . . planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted in a campaign of terror and violence directed at Kosovo Albanian civilians living in Kosovo in the FRY," is the indictment of the former leader by the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The website (www.un.org/icty/) provides unedited transcripts of Milosevic's testimony. For links to official websites and media reports on indictments of war criminals of the former Yugoslavia go to www.cco.caltech.edu/~bosnia/criminal/criminals.html
Remember.org is a "cybrary" sharing "art, discussion, photos, poems, and facts to preserve powerful memories" of the Holocaust. It includes photos of concentration camps, discussion forums,, lesson plans for teachers, a Holocaust bookstore and a new "tracing families" section. http://remember.org/
In 1971, the Dellums Committee Hearings on War Crimes in Vietnam, the first open hearings detailing atrocities committed by US forces in Indochina, took place. "This nation will be shocked by what it hears, but America will be better for having heard it," said one congressman. Concerned with "such schemes as free-fire zones, search and destroy missions, mass resettlement of peasantry and the so-called 'bodycount mania'," it makes extremely disturbing reading. http://members.aol.com/warlibrary/vwch1.htm
Established by journalists, lawyers and academics to raise awareness of the laws of war and "to translate the often dry, dense and arcane language of international humanitarian law so that it will have meaning and immediacy for news editors, reporters, policy makers, students and the general public", the War Crimes Project website provides a two-monthly magazine, expert analysis and an archive. www.crimesofwar.org
Recent news and information about international efforts (from East Timor to Sierra Leone) to hold individuals accused of committing war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity accountable for their actions is online at http://humanrights.about.com/newsissues/humanrights/library/weekly/blw arcrimes.htm
The use of rape as a weapon of war has devastating effects and is often a part of calculated policy. In recognition, the UN has categorised rape as a crime against humanity. For international links to sites dealing with rape in war go to http://women3rdworld.about.com/newsissues/women3rdworld/cs/rapeaswarcr ime/index.htm
An eight-part US radio series, War Crimes in the 20th Century, asks: Are war crimes rooted in immutable historical, ethnic, and religious animosities, or are they the result of bad leaders manipulating history and peoples in a quest for political power? Listen online to episodes on the psychology of war crimes in Kosovo, Cambodia, Rwanda, Germany, South Africa and the former Yugoslavia. http://npr.org/programs/specials/warcrimes/
smarriott@irish-times.ie
WebWatch returns in September
