Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 27, 1993 TAG: 9311270150
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"It's distressing to think nothing may happen. It's all very political, ' said Dye, a third-year law student at the College of William and Mary.
She was among 30 William and Mary students who volunteered to help prepare a report on war crimes alleged to have occurred in the Yugoslavian conflict.
The students submitted the final product two weeks ago to the United Nations Commission of Experts, a panel formed to investigate atrocity claims. That group makes the information available to the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal.
The tribunal, the first since World War II, opened Nov. 17. No one is sure what will come of it. There is only one permanent investigator on the case.
Still, Douglas Onley, a first-year law student who worked on the report, said just having a tribunal sends a message to those responsible for atrocities.
"I wouldn't be surprised if nothing comes of this," he said. "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't go through the process. It puts the world on notice."
Daniel Rogers, an undergraduate and another project participant, said the acts that have been committed are so heinous that the issue cannot be ignored.
"If you could gather the things we read, I don't think you could print them," said Rogers, whose ancestors are from the Balkans. "It is so beyond belief."
The students got involved because the United Nations had limited resources to investigate the Balkan war crimes claims.
The chairman of the Commission of Experts, Cherif Bassiouni of DePaul University in Chicago, put out a call for volunteers. Through a William and Mary connection, local students were invited to help.
Their job was a combination of clerical work and researching a technical document called a "memo of law." That report, said Dye, was compiled by Bassiouni and his staff. The students went back over the document to ensure that Bassiouni's legal citations were correct.
The students also examined legal questions relating to war and war crimes and pored over newspaper and other reports about atrocities.
Dye said there were times when she "literally had to get up from the table and walk away from it" because of the horrible nature of the events.
Despite the emotionally wrenching work, Onley said he got what he wanted from the project: an inside look at international law.
"That was one of the reasons I was interested," he said. "This was honest-to-God hands-on experience that might make a difference."
by CNB