Hague to Serbia: deliver war criminal Mladic before year-end or risk EU bid News
Hague to Serbia: deliver war criminal Mladic before year-end or risk EU bid

[JURIST] Serbian Defense Minister Zoran Stankovic said Friday on Serbian state television that Theodor Meron, president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive], had threatened Serbia with "excommunicat[ion] from Euro-Atlantic integration" if it failed to turn over indicted war criminal Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder] to the Hague-based court before the end of the year. Meron visited Belgrade Friday to express his impatience [JURIST report] with delays in the arrest and transfer process. Meron said that Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica promised him that Serbia will fufill their obligations to the international community as the country struggles to gain membership to the European Union [official website]. Reports surfaced earlier this year that covert members of the Serbia-Montenegro army are protecting Mladic [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Laws of Burgos put into effect

The Spanish Crown put the Laws of Burgos into effect on December 27, 1512. These laws governed the relationship of Spanish settlers with the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. The laws established the encomienda system of labor, promoted conversion to Catholicism, and safeguarded the indigenous peoples from physical abuse.  However, historians argue that the laws were ineffective at protecting the rights of the indigenous population. Learn more from the Library of Congress.

Prohibitionist Carrie Nation carried out her first public bar smashing

On December 27, 1900, militant Prohibitionist Carrie Nation carried out her first public smashing of a bar, at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kansas. Nation argued that destroying bars was an acceptable means of battling the liquor trade since the Kansas Constitution prohibited alcohol. Learn more about Carrie Nation.

World Bank created

On December 27, 1944, the World Bank was created during the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA. Learn more about the history of the World Bank.