Mass killings. Deportations in cattle cars. Ethnic cleansing. Rape. Mutilation. These are words that summon the darkest memories of World War II. They also describe the brutalities inflicted daily on innocent civilians in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Now is not the time for assigning blame-not when repeated, relentless violations of human rights have already taken upwards of 20,000 lives, injured tens of thousands and made refugees of some two million more.
It is time for creative, forceful action to end the needless and wanton violence ripping Balkan society apart.
The collapse of communism, the weakening of central authority in states formerly within the Soviet bloc, and the unleashing of long-restrained nationalist forces only heighten the imperative of civility in international and interethnic relations. By these standards, the ongoing violations of human rights in the former territory of Yugoslavia are an assault not only on the people of the region but on the very foundations of civilized society and the moral credibility of a world community committed in principle to non-aggression against innocents.
The American Jewish Committee urges the United States to exert its leadership and, acting together with the European Community and the United Nations, to use whatever means necessary, including military action, to end the slaughter, dispossession and devastation in Bosnia; speed the delivery of adequate food and medical supplies to besieged communities in that republic;
and assure temporary safe haven, in Europe and the United States, for refugees of the conflict.
