PRESENTATION ON BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA Prof. Hans-Joachim Heintze : The Rule of Law and the Duty to Protect I am a professor at a German University. I have a Masters programme in Humanitarian Action. And my University is responsible for training people who are involved in European issues in crisis countries through giving humanitarian assistance to the victims of conflict. And where is the connection with Transitional Justice? Those people in conflict are in need of protection; and the protection must be provided by states or by parties to the conflict. Therefore one of the issues we discuss with those people is the rule of law to protect vulnerable groups. I am also a professor at the University of Sarajevo, which is the capital of Bosnia-Hezergovina, one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. And this program deals with human rights and democratization South East Europe. That means we invite students from all over the Balkans with the intention of bringing young people together from all the former enemy states. Of course one of the issues is to deal with the past. To deal with crimes, which happened during the Yugoslavia war, the United Nations organised the International Criminal Court and Yugoslav Tribunal. My experience is that young people over there consider the Tribunal as an instrument of victory and justice. But the international community put it in place to deal with crimes against humanity. The acceptance of this Tribunal is not very much developed among the young people from the former Yugoslavia who felt that it was an imposition. Bosnian people talk to each other because of politics. Before, the intention was to get rid of the problems but this created a system that deepened the differences between the different groups in Bosnia-Hezergonina. Among them are the Serbs, the Croats and the Muslims. Because the governance system is divided, politicians are going for fast solutions, which cannot be found in one election. Seeking solutions in one election can be a problem, as it seems to me that the Truth Commissions can overcome the problem because people still talk to each other. And therefore I am eager to learn more about truth and reconciliation systems. And perhaps we can establish them in several institutions. In the Balkans, I had problems with the Truth Commission especially against the 54 The Second International Conference on Transitional Justice in Zimbabwe