After more than a year’s delay, Serbian and Bosnian prosecutors finally endorsed an agreement to work together to prosecute war crime cases.“From now on, for war criminals in the region, there are no borders behind which they can hide. Now we have the opportunity to efficiently protect the rights of …

The UN mediator in the ‘name’ dispute, Matthew Nimetz, sounded optimistic after wrapping up a fresh round of talks with both sides in New York – but provided no details.After a two-hour joint meeting with Macedonia’s negotiator, Zoran Jolevski and Greece’s Adamantios Vassilakis, UN mediator Nimetz said he saw signs …

Sarajevo Cantonal Assembly has changed its constitution to allow ethnic minorities the same rights as the three major ethnic groups.Lawmakers in the Sarajevo Cantonal Assembly adopted changes to their Constitution on January 30 and gave the same rights to minorities as to constituent peoples thus implementing the Sejdic and Finci …

Six Western Balkan states have vowed to cooperate in solving the problem of illegal immigrants to EU countries, following threats to reintroduce visas to the region.Leaders of six Western Balkan countries have concluded that closer cooperation will overcome the problem of people wrongly seeking asylum in Western Europe. At a …

The Russian Foreign Minister has dimissed the Albanian Prime Minister’s call for an eventual unification of all Albanians in one state, saying too much blood has been spilled in the region already.Sergei Lavrov said that any redrawing of borders in Europe is unacceptable, and that fully refers to the situation …

“After the arrested were interviewed at the police station, the prosecution sent all the information to the court because there were suspicions about their involvement in the grave demolitions,” Ismet Hasani, spokesperson for Kosovo police in Gjilane, told BIRN. “One of the arrested is an adult, while the other four …

Women members of the Serbian parliament plan to form a cross-party women’s caucus in the parliament to push for sex equality in general.Women parliamentarians in Serbia are forming a team tasked with setting up a cross-party women’s caucus in parliament to promote the cause of gender equality. Dubravka Filipovski, of …

Dealing with a backlog of hundreds of pending war crimes investigations will be a top priority, said Bosnia’s newly-appointed chief prosecutor Goran Salihovic.Salihovic, who takes office on Friday, said he wanted to speed up approximately 600 war crimes investigations which are currently pending at the Bosnian state prosecutor’s office. He …

The UN envoy in the Macedonia-Greece ‘name’ dispute, Matthew Nimetz, is sounding confident of a compromise ahead of fresh talks, which follow his recent visit to the region.UN mediator Nimetz will meet Macedonia’s negotiator, Zoran Jolevski and Greece’s Adamantios Vassilakis separately and then at a joint discussion on Tuesday and …

As time run shorts for Slovenia to ratify Croatia’s EU accession – if Croatia is to join the European club on July 1, as planned – leaders from both countries are to meet this week.”If Slovenia doesn’t ratify Croatia’s accession agreement soon, Croatia won’t join the EU on July 1, …