Background
The Humanitarian Law Center was founded in 1997 after the outbreak of armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia and systematic human rights abuse in Kosovo. Gathering documentation about war crimes is of importance not only in bringing war criminals to justice, but also in providing evidence for subsequent trials. HLC began by cooperating with the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia in The Hague and from June 1999 has worked with the Prosecutors’ Offices in Serbia and Kosovo, providing both information and expert assistance in the war crimes trials.
Mission
To help post-conflict societies in the former Yugoslavia to re-establish the rule of law and come to terms with the legacy of large-scale human rights abuse and prevent the recurrence of such abuses.
Position
To advocate responsibility for past crimes, reconciliation and the restoration of victims’ dignity, whatever their ethnicity, across the region.
Objectives
Position
To advocate responsibility for past crimes, reconciliation and the restoration of victims’ dignity, whatever their ethnicity, across the region.
Objectives
- To provide evidence of killings, disappearances, torture and ethnic cleansing in times of armed conflict through interviewing witnesses and victims with a view to bringing war criminals to justice;
- To provide documented evidence and assistance to further the prosecution of war criminals;
- To advocate regional reconciliation by taking responsibility for the war crimes committed;
- To restore the human dignity of victims from all ethnicities and promote minority rights;
- To monitor and inform public and state agencies about human rights among ethnic minorities.
Contact details
Bekim Blakaj, Head of Office
Humanitarian Law Center
Prishtina Branch Office
St.Rrustem Statovci 11/2
10000 Prishtinë
UNMIK Kosovo
Tel/fax:+381 38 243 488/490, +377 44 240 278
E-mail: blakaj@hlc-kosovo.org ; office@hlc-kosovo.org
Website: www.hlc.org.yu