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Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I am pleased to be here today to be able to testify on the human rights situation in Bosnia. Other Administration officials have spoken to you before about our broader objectives in bringing peace to that war-torn country. The war in Bosnia was the worst conflict in Europe since World War II and the biggest threat to the cohesiveness and stability of Europe since the Cold War.
Without the painstaking efforts and leadership of the United States there would have been no peace agreement; continued American leadership will be required if the peace is to take root. We believe the success of the peace process is integrally related to the successful implementation of the human rights provisions of the Dayton accords. For this reason, implementing the human rights elements of Dayton is one of the Administration's highest priority goals for Bosnia.
Each time I have appeared before this Committee in the past, I have underscored the importance of human rights issues as a fundamental pillar of U.S. foreign policy. Nowhere is this more true than in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Europe witnessed its most terrible crimes against humanity since the Holocaust.
Since the onset of the tragic conflict there, the United States has been committed to exposing and stopping the horrific violations of human rights that were occurring. We brought Bosnia's human rights tragedy before the United Nations as early as August, 1992. In early 1993, we led the effort in the UN Security Council to create a Commission of Experts to investigate war crimes. We subsequently spearheaded the creation of the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. We have been the Tribunal's most important supporter, providing it with financing, personnel, political backing, and information. The United States was the first to publicize information on mass graves and other evidence of war crimes and the first to facilitate Tribunal access to witnesses, victims and sites of atrocities.
I myself have visited Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia on eight separate missions to advance our human rights goals. My efforts centered on exposing violations of human rights by all parties, seeking free access to all parts of Bosnia for international investigators and the media, arranging releases of prisoners and detainees, seeking cooperation with the International War Crimes Tribunal, and facilitating compliance with the peace agreement. I will discuss my own activities further in a moment.
Four broad goals have guided our approach on human rights in the Bosnia conflict:
Most of this background is well known to the distinguished members here today. If you wish, however, I will be happy to expand on it and provide any additional details you want during the question period.
What I would like to focus my remarks on today is the Dayton peace accords and our work since November to implement that agreement. As you know, I was at Dayton and was involved personally in negotiating the accords. Since then I have traveled to Europe and to the former Yugoslavia three times to pursue asp