Six leaders of southeast Europe, scene of the worst religious and ethnic fighting in the continent since World War II, have pledged to close the bitter chapter of the past with a new culture of dialogue under a declaration adopted at a United Nations-sponsored conference in Tirana, Albania.

In the Tirana Summit Declaration on Inter-Religious and Inter-Ethnic Dialogue in Southeast Europe, the participants "reaffirm that mutual respect, rooted in open dialogue and nourished by multi-ethnicity, multi-culturality and multi-religiosity is indispensable for the preservation of peace."

New Global Report Finds Child Soldiers In Over 20 Conflicts Worldwide

LONDON - Governments are undermining progress in ending the use of children as soldiers, said a coalition of the world's leading human rights and humanitarian organizations in a newly published report.

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers today released the most comprehensive global survey of child soldiers to date. It said that children are fighting in almost every major conflict,

Committee Also Hears Introduction of 17 Draft Resolutions on Human Rights
GA/SHC/3802

Fifty-ninth General Assembly
Third Committee
40th & 41st Meetings (AM & PM)

Security issues due to armed conflicts and the threat of terrorism are becoming one of the major challenges to humanitarian operations, delegates today told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) as it concluded its general discussion on refugees, returnees and displaced persons.

By Patrick Moore
Many people inside and outside Bosnia believe that the 1995 Dayton peace agreement has outlived its usefulness. There is, however, no consensus on what to put in its place, or on whether fundamental changes in Bosnia would have a negative impact on the rest of the Balkans (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 5 September and 19 December 2003, and 16 April and 8 October 2004).

The Dayton agreement unquestionably served its immediate purpose of ending the fighting in Bosnia-Herzegovina and preventing a resumption of hostilities. In the past few years, however,

SUMMARY

The armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s were characterized by widespread violations of human rights and humanitarian law. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will have adjudicated only a relatively small number of cases involving the most serious crimes by the time it ceases operating. All other war crimes cases1 - whether initiated domestically or referred back from the ICTY - will have to be tried by national courts in the states of the former Yugoslavia.

Human Rights Watch has carried out extensive

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond - to whom quoted text may be attributed - at the press briefing, on 21 September 2004, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The latest UNHCR statistics from Bosnia and Herzegovina show that 1 million former refugees and displaced persons have now returned home. This is a significant and long-awaited milestone in the lengthy process of rebuilding a nation shattered by the 1992-95 war.

In all, 1,000,473 people out of a total of more than 2 million people forcibly displaced during the war had returned

By Patrick Nicholson
11 year old Balyos at a camp organised by the Ecumenical Humanitarian Organisation to break down barriers between Serb and Croat children

Petrovaradin Fortress dominates the city of Novi Sad in Serbia.

Built on vertical rock on the banks of the Danube, the castle once marked a dividing line between East and West, Orthodox and Roman Catholicism, Muslim Ottoman and Christian Hapsburg empires.

From its medieval ramparts, there is a spectacular panoramic view of Novi Sad, with its numerous church spires

Executive Summary
THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PRESENT STUDY is to analyze conflict-induced displacement from the point of view of vulnerability, using a multifaceted definition of vulnerability. As many as 10 million people have been displaced by war in the Europe and Central Asia region since 1990. While many people have been able to return home, approximately half remain displaced, with no available avenues for sustainable reintegration. Currently, in five countries of the region (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Serbia and Montenegro) displaced persons

ANKARA, Apr 20, 2004 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that cooperation in the Balkans has become critically important in terms of securing and consolidating peace and stability on today's international conditions.

Erdogan made the remarks in Adapazari near Istanbul before his departure for Sarajevo to attend the seventh summit of heads of state and government of Southeast European Countries Cooperation Process.

The Anatolia News Agency quoted Erdogan as saying that Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah