Bosnian women mourning victims of the Srebrenica massacre.
Today marks the 16th anniversary of the tragic Srebrenica massacre in which 8,000 Muslims were systematically killed by Serbian forces during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. Thousands of Bosnian Muslims have gathered to commemorate the anniversary and bury the remains of 613 victims who were identified after they were recently recovered from mass graves. This anniversary is a sobering reminder of the horrors of genocide, but also offers a look at the potential for international justice to hold those complicit in mass atrocities accountable.
The Srebrenica Massacre
The United Nations declared Srebrenica a “safe area” in 1993; it was to be a demilitarized zone protected by UN peacekeepers. Both sides in the conflict violated that agreement, and on July 11, 1995, Serbian forces besieged the town of Srebrenica. This attack is the only episode of the Bosnian war that international courts have definitively labeled genocide. Men and boys were murdered and their corpses were disposed of in mass graves. Women and girls were subjected to violent rape. Over 25,000 citizens, primarily women, were forcibly relocated from Srebrenica to Serbian-controlled territory.
International Justice
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established under the auspices of the United Nations in 1993 to pursue justice for war crimes that took place during the conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s.
Ratko Mladic
Ratko Mladic, the Serbian general responsible for the Srebrenica massacre and other war crimes, was arrested on May 26th and transferred to the ICTY in The Hague, where he will face trial for two counts of genocide, six counts of war crimes, and seven counts of crimes against humanity. Other Serbian leaders responsible for the genocide have also been indicted and tried by the ICTY, including Radovan Karadzic and Radislav Krstic, who was found guilty of aiding and abetting genocide and sentenced to 35 years imprisonment.
Also held accountable in the massacre was the Netherlands, which directed orders to the Dutch peacekeeping troops responsible for protecting the Srebrenica UN “safe area” in July 1995. The peacekeepers handed over three Bosnian men to the Serbian army and witnessed multiple incidents in which Bosnian Muslims were abused, raped, and killed by Serbian troops without intervening. In July 2011, the ICTY ruled that the Dutch state was responsible for the deaths of the three men handed over by peacekeepers.
Lessons Learned from Srebrenica
The memory of the Srebrenica atrocities resounds in current conflict zones where civilians are in danger. The ethno-political dimensions of the Balkans conflict remind us of the current political marginalization and violent targeting of certain ethnic groups in Darfur. The use of rape as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo is also reminiscent of the rapes that took place in Srebrenica.
But current international efforts for protecting civilians reflect some of the lessons learned in Srebrenica. In Srebrenica, NATO did not begin airstrikes until after the massacre when the worst atrocities against civilians had already taken place, despite prior requests for support. Now in Libya’s current political conflict we see NATO intervening proactively to protect civilians.
The recent ICTY ruling against the Dutch state sets an important precedent that peacekeeping troops who fail to protect civilians can and must be held accountable. UN peacekeepers in Sudan should heed this precedent as the genocide and violence against civilians there continue and they find themselves responsible for protecting civilian lives.
Aspects of current international conflicts are reminiscent of the genocide in Srebrenica, so the international community must use the lessons learned there to pursue international justice and protect civilians.
