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PRIME MINISTER
STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER. THE HON P J KEATING MP
SITUATION 1IN BOSNIA
All Australians have been horrified by the bloodshed and human rights abuses in
Bosnia, and appalled by the misery that has been inflicted on the civilian population in
the former Yugoslavia.
In particular, we feel for those among us who have families and friends and ties with
communities caught up in the fighting.
The Bosnian Serb capture of Srebrenica and continuing Bosnian Serb attacks on other
UN ' safe areas' have provoked another exodus of families and a wave of suffering, with
horrific violations of human rights.
The latest acts of aggression by the Bosnian Serb forces are a moral affront to all of us.
They offend every international standard of decency.
The international community faces immensely difficult decisions about how to respond
to this critical situation.
Though often criticised, UNPROFOR's operations with the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees ( UNHCR) in the former Yugoslavia have helped protect nearly three
million people affected by the conflict. Despite the extreme difficulties imposed on
UNPROFOR by confused mandates, it can continue to make an important contribution
to the humanitarian effort and in restraining conflict in the former Yugoslavia.
The Australian Government welcomes the agreement in London among the countries
most involved in peace efforts in the former Yugoslavia and the UN to ensure access
for supplies to the civilian population in Sarajevo and to meet further Bosnian Serb
offensives with a decisive and effective response.
In order to help relieve immediate suffering, the Government has decided to provide a
new $ 3 million aid package.
Australia will provide $ 1.5 million to the UN lead agency in the former Yugoslavia, the
UNHCR, and $ 750,000 to the World Food Program. We will also provide $ 350,000
to kick-start a joint appeal announced today by UNHCR and Austcare for cash
contributions to make up family survival kits with food, blankets, clothing and other
essential items.
The Government will give World Vision Australia $ 350,000 for its program to provide
food and care to displaced people in and around Zenica. And we will provide $ 50,000
to Austcare to support local women's initiatives to help women who have been subject
to violence.
This package of assistance is additional to the almost $ 5 million the Government has
already provided to the victims of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, including a
contribution of $ 500,000 to help civilians displaced by the latest fighting announced by
the Acting Foreign Minister on 18 July.
Since the outbreak of the conflict in 1991 Australia has accepted for resettlement some
14,000 victims of the war. This financial year, provision has been made for an
additional 5,600 people under the Government's humanitarian program.
Sir Ninian Stephen and other expert Australian staff work with the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
It is in the interests of the entire international community that the crisis in Bosnia be
brought to an end and an enduring peace established in the Former Yugoslavia. That
means all participants must make a determined effort to negotiate a settlement.
CANBERRA 24 July 1995