Secretary-General Kofi Annan intends to appoint a senior police official from Denmark as the next head of the law enforcement component of the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina?s (UNMIBH), a UN spokesman announced today in New York. Police Commander Sven Christian Frederiksen will succeed the current Commissioner of UNMIBH?s International Police Task Force (IPTF), Vincent Coeurderoy of France, upon the expiration of the latter?s tour of duty at the end of the month. As the UN Mission is scheduled to complete its mandate by the end of this year, Mr. Frederiksen will also continue on as the first head of the EU Police Mission (EUPM) that is slated to take over from UNMIBH the responsibility for building up the local police force. To ensure a smooth transition and continuity between the two Missions, Mr. Frederiksen?s primary task will be to bring UNMIBH to a successful conclusion, the spokesman said, noting that the EU will appoint a senior officer to undertake the planning for the EUPM under Mr. Frederiksen?s general supervision.

A human rights investigator who claims she was sacked for exposing the sexual abuse of Bosnian women by her United Nations colleagues, told a tribunal that girls as young as 15 were offered for sex," the Daily Telegraph of London reports. "Kathryn Bolkovac, 41, said women were forced to dance naked in Bosnian bars frequented by UN police officers. . . . "The former American policewoman claims she was sacked because she sent an email to Jacques Paul Klein, the chief of UN mission in Bosnia-Hercegovina, which highlighted the sexual exploitation of women by those who had been sent to protect them from the sex trade." Bolkovac was employed by U.S.-based DynCorp, which responded that she was fired for time-card irregularities. Bolkovac denied the charge. Instead, "she said she also found that international staff were helping local police to sell women for the sex trade and she feared this was being 'covered up,'" the Telegraph said.

An estimated 1,500 workers protested in Banja Luka last month, complaining they are severely underpaid -- and many haven't even been paid the meager salaries they're owed. "Some workers face years of back pay," AFP noted. Unemployment in the Serb-controlled sector of Bosnia is estimated at 39 percent, AFP said.

A U.S. federal court judge has ruled that Nikola Vuckovic must pay $140 million in restitution to four Bosnians he tortured during the war. Vuckovic, who served in the Bosnian Serb Army, came to the U.S. in 1997 as a refugee. Judge Marvin H. Shoob found that Vuckovic "repeatedly tortured" each of the plaintiffs, meriting "substantial punitive damages," according to a statement released by the Center for Justice and Accountability. Vuckovic did not appear in court for the trial. "The witnesses testified about frequent beatings, teeth pulled out with pliers and heads smashed against walls while soldiers hurled anti-Muslim abuse. All said they lost about half their body weight during detention," AP reported. Kemal Mehinovic acknowledged that it's unlikely the victims will be able to collect the money, but said justice was nevertheless served. "I brought this case because I felt an obligation towards those who were killed or tortured by Vuckovic," he told AP. "I am satisfied with the result. He will no longer be able to live peacefully in the United States." The case was brought under two U.S. laws that allows victims of human rights abuses to sue perpetrators who live in the U.S. The Center's statement on the case is posted at http://www.cja.org/BosniaPR4.29.02.htm