In 1995, I was in the Balkans during a period when all sides committed war crimes; the worst of which was the genocide in Srebrenica, which resulted in over 8,000 civilian deaths. By then, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia had already been established by the United Nations. Those of us deployed with UNPROFOR took evidence after any attacks which we believed contravened the law, such as when white phosphorus was fired into civilian blocks of flats soon after I arrived in Maglaj.
Eight years later, I found myself back in Bosnia planning the NATO military operations to hunt PIFWCs (persons indicted for war crimes). Each military operation involved specialist Italian Carabinieri who set up an inner cordon and a Special Forces arrest team from one of the signatory countries. The secret diplomatic process that was sewn up in capital cities and the Hague, was a brilliant example of the international community working together for a common purpose and provides an exemplary model for those who are calling for war criminals to be indicted in the current war in Ukraine.
Rupert Wieloch 