Former Yugoslavia countries must face past horrors or risk return to conflict, Council of Europe official says

A Bosnian Muslim woman prays during a funeral ceremony for 30 newly-identified victims in Srebrenica, in July 2023.The burial was part of a memorial ceremony to mark the 28th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, considered the worst atrocity of Bosnia's 1992-95 war. Photograph: Fehim Demir/EPA

The failure of the countries of the former Yugoslavia to address their violent past has had devastating consequences for human rights and could ultimately lead to a return to conflict in the region, according to a new Council of Europe report.

The report, published on Thursday by the council’s commissioner for human rights, Dunja Mijatović, said the region has been backsliding for many years on seeking justice and accountability for the brutal wars of the 1990s in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, which killed more than 130,000 people.