Srebrenica Massacre Research Articles

Srebrenica as a Marker of Memory in Bilateral Relations Between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Light of Ontological Security

Abstract This article aims to analyze the impact of memory on security/foreign policy using the example of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s bilateral relations. The basis for these considerations is the concept of ontological security. It indicates the construction of the identity of the state and is implemented through political decisions and social practices (for example remembering important historical events). Here, memory is treated as a social construct. In addition, the article focuses on memory leading to the formation of state identity, also seen in the international sphere. Historical memory has a considerable impact on bilateral relations between countries that used to be in conflict, like Serbia and BiH. In the example analyzed, leaders use historical memory to create separate identities, commemorate chosen and appropriate victims/heroes or important dates, historical sites, monuments events and develop selective narratives. The most significant elements in the analysis of the historical memory of Serbia and BiH relations are (1) the goals of foreign and security policy of Serbia and BiH (2) the contemporary narrative of the Srebrenica genocide and its perception by governments of Serbia, BiH, and by Bosnian Serbs and Bosniaks, and (3) an official Srebrenica commemoration (memorials, Srebrenica Memorial Day).

THE OBSTACLES TO THE RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL LAW: A CASE STUDY OF AL-ANFAL AND SREBRENICA GENOCIDE TRIALS

Background: The right to a fair trial is a critical part of national and international human rights frameworks. To protect this right, the rule of law should be implemented. Currently, the approach to trying individuals accused of grave international crimes, including genocide, is different, which gives an impression of inequality. For instance, the person accused of the al- Anfal genocide was tried by a national court and sentenced to the death penalty, whereas the person accused of the Srebrenica genocide was sentenced to life imprisonment by an international tribunal. Not to mention the lack of respect for the defendants’ rights during the al-Anfal genocide’s trial, including the principle of due process and the right to a fair trial. The main reason for the differing decisions in these two identical cases involving genocide arises from their trials in different courts and under different legal frameworks. This paper addresses the significance of these challenges for equality under international law and emphasises the difficulties in securing fair trials by examining these examples. Methods: This article analyses the application of the right to a fair trial for international criminals by using doctrinal methods. Specifically, it adopts a qualitative approach to examine relevant international statutes. To illustrate, the research chose to analyse and compare two case studies: the trial of Ali al-Majid, the leader of the al-Anfal genocide, and Ratko Mladic, the leader of the Srebrenica genocide. This comparison focuses on aspects such as judicial independence and overall fairness in the trials of war criminals. It involves desk-based research and data that are collected through the analysis of relevant literature from primary sources, such as international law instruments and secondary sources, including books and academic articles, about the inconsistency of fair trial standards in different judicial contexts. Results and conclusions: Different approaches in trials for similar crimes threaten global justice and the protection of individual rights and freedoms. One practical way to address this issue is to bring those accused of grave international crimes, including genocide, to appear before the International Criminal Court (ICC), providing fair trials and punishments. However, this article demonstrates that the doctrine of state sovereignty may pose challenges to creating a uniform framework for the prosecution of war criminals. Additional challenges arise with the existence of different legal and political systems across the world. The article argues that to ensure a fair trial and maintain international peace and security, it is necessary to overcome these challenges and adopt a uniform framework for the prosecution of those accused of grave international crimes. The ICC can be the solution. The international community can overcome these challenges by encouraging all countries to join the Rome Statue and give it the sole jurisdiction over grave international crimes such as genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity.

Potentially morally injurious experiences and associated factors among Dutch UN peacekeepers: a latent class analysis

ABSTRACT Background: During peacekeeping missions, military personnel may be involved in or exposed to potentially morally injurious experiences (PMIEs), such as an inability to intervene due to a limited mandate. While exposure to such morally transgressive events has been shown to lead to moral injury in combat veterans, research on moral injury in peacekeepers is limited. Objective: We aimed to determine patterns of exposure to PMIEs and associated outcome- and exposure-related factors among Dutch peacekeepers stationed in the former Yugoslavia during the Srebrenica genocide. Method: Self-report data were collected among Dutchbat III veterans (N = 431). We used Latent Class Analysis to identify subgroups of PMIE exposure as assessed by the Moral Injury Scale–Military version. We investigated whether deployment location, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), posttraumatic growth, resilience, and quality of life differentiated between latent classes. Results: The analysis identified a three-class solution: a high exposure class (n = 79), a moderate exposure class (n = 261), and a betrayal and powerlessness-only class (n = 135). More PMIE exposure was associated with deployment location and higher odds of having probable PTSD. PMIE exposure was not associated with posttraumatic growth. Resilience and quality of life were excluded from analyses due to high correlations with PTSD. Conclusions: Peacekeepers may experience varying levels of PMIE exposure, with more exposure being associated with worse outcomes 25 years later. Although no causal relationship may be assumed, the results emphasize the importance of better understanding PMIEs within peacekeeping.

Ethnic Tensions and Global Response: Disentangling the Complexities of the Bosnian War

This article critically examines the Bosnian War within the broader framework of international law, with a specific focus on understanding its role in managing ethnic conflicts. The aim is to analyze the effectiveness of international law in addressing the complex dynamics of ethnic strife, particularly in the context of post-Cold War Yugoslavia. The key hypothesis guiding this research posits that international legal mechanisms, while crucial, faced significant challenges and limitations in effectively resolving the ethnic conflicts that characterized the Bosnian War. The study delves into the historical and socio-political factors fueling ethnic tensions in Yugoslavia, highlighting how nationalism and ethnic separatism culminated in widespread violence. The article critically evaluates the international response to the conflict, including the effectiveness of UN Peacekeeping Forces and the Dayton Peace Agreement, and discusses the broader implications for global peace and security. Furthermore, the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is explored as a key development in international law. The study assesses the impact of the ICTY on promoting accountability and justice, and its role in facilitating reconciliation efforts post-conflict. The findings of this study have significant relevance for contemporary international law, offering insights into its potential in preventing and resolving ethnic conflicts in a rapidly changing global landscape.

“Celebrating” Srebrenica Genocide: Impunity and Indoctrination as Contributing Factors to the Glorification of Mass Atrocities

ABSTRACT This paper provides an analysis of the politics and culture of 20 years of genocide denial in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and neighbouring Serbia and Croatia. It shows how denial at the political level spilled over to a culture of genocide, which is pervasive, from public spaces to schools, art, sports and popular culture. I argue that without significant revision of the Criminal Code and a radical reform of education, we can expect to see continuation of the denial of the Srebrenica genocide for many years to come.

Digital remembrance: Honouring Srebrenica genocide victims via #ŠtoTeNema

Abstract This article aims to track and tackle the #ŠtoTeNema hashtag to analyse the meanings generated by Twitter end-users who employed #ŠtoTeNema together with other hashtags, texts, visuals, hyperlinks, and metadata. ŠTO TE NEMA (Why are you not here?) first appeared as an alternative commemorative practice (in 2006) to remember the victims of the Srebrenica genocide (1995). In 2012, the #ŠtoTeNema hashtag emerged to commemorate human loss on Twitter and provide even more comprehensive access to this space of memory and suffering. Using multimodal discourse analysis, I examine how Aida Šehović, the artist behind ŠTO TE NEMA, with her team and Twitter's end-users, portrayed the Srebrenica genocide by employing #ŠtoTeNema. I argue that ŠTO TE NEMA has become an influential and recognisable representation of the Srebrenica genocide not only on-site but also online. This research concludes that #ŠtoTeNema gained momentum during the global pandemic peak (2020), creating inclusive access to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the genocide locally, regionally, and transnationally.

The Subtle Line that Differentiates between Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide

The Bosnian genocide refers to the Srebrenica massacre and other acts of ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian War of 1992–1995. This study was conducted using normative-empirical methods combining juridical and sociological elements that focused on implying the elements in the body of Article 6 of Rome Statute 1998 with the actual events that occurred in the Bosnian Genocide cases. The study aimed to analyze the distinction between ethnic cleansing and genocide based on its execution and planning, particularly in relation to the Rome Statute of 1998, which established the International Criminal Court (ICC). The study found that ethnic cleansing seeks to expel a group from a specific area, while genocide aims to physically destroy entire racial, ethnic, or religious groups. Ethnic cleansing focuses on achieving ethnic homogeneity, while genocide seeks the complete annihilation of a group. After the establishment of the ICC in 2002, ethnic cleansing became explicitly covered under international law, alongside genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

Commemorating by Marching: Memorialization and Resistance Practices of the Srebrenica Genocide

AbstractUsing the case-study of the Marš Mira, a peace march to commemorate the Srebrenica genocide of July 1995, this article explores how practices of memorialization of genocide and resistance against denial of genocide intersect, in order to gain more insight into the challenges post-conflict societies face. The march retraces the steps that the Bosniak men and boys took while fleeing the Serb army after the fall of the Srebrenica enclave. It is a powerful means of commemorating the genocide and, as such, highlights the importance of space within memorialization. Simultaneously, walking the march serves as an act of resistance to Serb narratives of denial. We argue that resistance against genocide denial and memorialization of the genocide are intricately interwoven in the incentives of Bosniaks participating in the annual Marš Mira, and that they manifest themselves in the use of the landscape in which the march takes place. Through an analysis of four incentives for walking the Marš Mira, we shed light on the challenges that Serb denialism poses to the ability of the Bosniak community to deal with the past of the Srebrenica genocide.

Not at the Mercy of No Protection

UN-mandated zones of protection seem like a relic of the 1990s, discredited by the Srebrenica genocide. The past decade of war in Syria and elsewhere has shown that other means of intervention have led to disastrous outcomes as well. However, a look at the recent history of zones of protection shows that success is possible. German foreign policy has long been committed to the rhetoric of preventing mass atrocities; its forthcoming national security strategy will be the place to put its institu-tional muscle where its political mouth has been for a long time.

The west’s long-distorted view of the Balkans and their people led to a ‘catastrophic’ outcome

This article was written in review of the 27th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide which, in 2022, overlapped with the Eid al Adha celebrations. The author recalls some of the facts related to the Bosnian genocide and the horrific, inhumane regard which the perpetrators had for the bodies of those they had killed, reminding us that remembrance is not only crucial in itself but because genocide can happen anywhere. She then turns to the ‘catastrophic’ failures of western policy during the 1990s rooted substantially in Islamophobia and a desire to emphasise Christianised Europe, contrasting this with the intellectual galvanisation and growth of self-consciousness which has subsequently occurred among Bosniaks with a view to remembering the past but also to the rebuilding of a multiethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina. Healing remains fraught with difficulties, but coming to a reckoning with the past requires an ultimate rejection of the harmful stereotypes about the region and its peoples in which, recalling Marko Attila Hoare’s recent essay, removal of the faultlines which stem from the western mindset is critical.

„Quo Vadis, Aida?“ in the Context of Prosthetic Memory

The research for this paper was initially prompted by the insights of Alison Landsberg (Prosthetic Memory, 2004) on the development of prosthetic memory, namely the phenomenon of personally experienced content through the mass media – and the idea to apply the same insights to the film "Quo Vadis, Aida" (2020) directed by Jasmila Žbanić, because of the relevance of its topic on the Srebrenica genocide in 1995 for modern society. This paper analyzes the difference between collective and prosthetic memory, affective engagement concerning the process of identification in acquiring historical knowledge and prosthetic memory, and the elements of the film that encourage epistemological uncertainty and therefore potentially develop historical awareness and responsibility. Given the example of the film "Quo Vadis, Aida?", this paper aims to show the potential of mass media in developing prosthetic memory, which consequently brings to thinking about the other from the current perspective, thus encouraging moral responsibility and critical thinking.

Egemenlik Bağlamında Srebrenitsa Katliamı ve Dayton Antlaşması

The Srebrenica massacre happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995 followed by the Dayton Treaty, and this study tries to analyze the treaty in the concept of sovereignty. It also evaluates the views and conversations of Bosnian leader Aliya Izetbegovic before and after the war, who signed the treaty and lead during the war. It tries to find an answer to the question of whether the treaty had a positive or negative outcome for the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a nation-state.
 This study focuses on the Srebrenica massacre, its importance and the developments that occurred after. The literature related to this subject is transferred over the concepts of power and sovereignty, which are indispensable for being a sovereign state and have rich definitions in the field of social sciences. The study discusses the post-Balkanization of erstwhile Yugoslavia and whether the Dayton Treaty aided the stability of the region which was divided into smaller nation-states. It reflects on the unique troika-member presidential system and how it has led to the cementation of specific ethnic and religious groupings due to the implementation of the treaty.
 The study also gives a demographic character of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the war that resulted in a genocide of at least 8000 Muslims.

Fear and loathing in monuments: Rethinking the politics and practices of monumentality and monumentalization

Monuments—and the function and import of monumentality and practices of monumentalization—are currently under incredible scrutiny. Should historical statues of racist figures and pasts be left as they are or removed and destroyed? Should they be rehomed in statue parks intended as final resting places for disgraced statues? Or should they be left but with additional monuments and memorials added to their surroundings to provide further context? At the root of these debates is a fundamental inquiry about not just what monuments are but, more importantly, what monuments are intended to do for and within a body politic. In scholarly dialogue with Doss, Santino, Savage, Young, and others, I assert that we need to reorient and expand our thinking about monuments. I argue that monuments function as speech acts, and although they rarely speak for an entire body politic, monuments play a critical role in shaping historical narratives and cultural reckoning with racist, brutally violent pasts and their lived afterlives. Moreover, while in many respects backward-facing, monuments are also profoundly future-facing in the values and narratives they symbolize and articulate and the kinds of spaces and community practices they have the potential to cultivate. I analyze two different monument projects: Aida Šehović’s transnational nomadic monument to the Srebrenica genocide, ŠTO TE NEMA, and Landmarked, Ada Pinkston’s embodied replacement and reimagining of spaces where Confederate and slavery monuments used to be in the Eastern United States. These monument projects, I argue, challenge us to revisit the politics and practices of monumentality and monumentalization in relation to unworked-through racist pasts and, in this incredible moment of reckoning and crisis, suggest new possibilities for how we understand—and cultivate—monuments moving forward.

Unearth Not

This essay explores how denial of the Srebrenica genocide against the Bosnian Muslims/Bosniaks in Srebrenica, committed in 1995, is still lived as an everyday reality in present-day Serbia. It argues that this denial comprises various performative and narrative levels, which all stem from the unique acts of hiding and disguising on behalf of the state and individual perpetrators. The essay follows several levels of concealment and denial of the Srebrenica genocide in Serbia: the socio-political one, best palpable in Radovan Karadžić’s hiding and disguising as a healer after the war (up to 2008), and the artistic by which the reality becomes disclosed in the fictional world of the theatre play Srebrenica. When we the murdered rise by Zlatko Paković (2020). The play exposes a phenomenon of a well-trained performance of denial designed by the distinguished members of the Serbian intellectual elite. In this vein, it ventures into the intellectual evolution of the genocidal attitude towards Muslims in Yugoslavia, from pre-war times to actual executions during the dissolution of Yugoslavia (1991–5). The perception that the Balkan Muslims were disloyal members who had converted from the Serbian Orthodox religion to Islam prevails throughout the century and shapes the way people write, read and stage history in Serbia. Therefore, it follows the genocide denial in exploring how concealment strategies work as they are re-actualized by ordinary people in their personal, everyday performances.

Walking the Past, Acting the Past? Peace March to Srebrenica Commemoration

AbstractThis article is based on an ethnographic study carried out during the Nezuk-Potočari Peace March in the framework of Srebrenica genocide commemoration. A more than 100-kilometer procession, attracting each year around 5,000 participants, represents the reverse route of the so-called Death March, the local population’s way of escape from the town of Srebrenica in July 1995. Following theoretical insights from both memory studies and cultural geography, this article’s aim is to analyze mnemonic practices commemorating the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moreover, it explores the social processes through which such memory is produced, performed, and maintained. While applying participant observant methodology, I have engaged in conversation with residents and main actors taking part in the Peace March. Finally, the notion of collective memory is approached from the perspective of spatial mobility engagement of people visiting commemorative events and monuments dedicated to the 1990s war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

What Is a Safe Area? Definition, Typology and Empirical Cases

Abstract In today’s conflicts, the number of people needing physical protection is at an all-time high. Often, protection is provided by the creation of safe areas. Although the notion largely disappeared after the Srebrenica genocide, safe areas have continued to exist empirically. Recently, safe areas had a minor revival in academic analysis and in the political rhetoric vis-à-vis Syria. Yet, fundamental gaps remain as it is still unclear what a safe area actually is and whether all safe areas function in the same way. This article develops a precise definition and comprehensive typology of safe areas. The definition is based on considerations regarding geographical limitation and location, target group, kind of provided protection, involved actors, and effective existence. Furthermore, four ideal types of safe areas are identified based on a division between belligerents’ consent/international presence and different geographical sizes. This is complemented by an extensive collection of empirical cases since 1900.

Fair Trial in Mothers of Srebrenica et al.: Guessing as a Form of Reasoning

On 19 July 2019, the Dutch Supreme Court (<em>Hoge Raad</em>) rendered the final judgment in the proceedings led by Stichting Mothers of Srebrenica (‘Mothers’), a foundation established under the Dutch law, in the interests of more than 6,000 surviving relatives of the Srebrenica genocide. Mothers and ten individual plaintiffs alleged multiple failures by the Dutch State regarding the fall of the Srebrenica safe area designated by the United Nations (‘UN’) and the fate of more than 30,000 people who had fled to either a nearby compound of the Dutch battalion or other locations, including about 7,000 Bosniac males. However, the Supreme Court established the State’s responsibility only regarding a group of approximately 350 males who had been allowed inside the Dutchbat compound but were then handed over to the Bosnian Serbs. This contribution examines from the perspective of the right to fair trial how the courts determined the State’s liability for damages in relation to these males. It questions whether the parties to the proceedings had an opportunity to present their arguments on facts and evidence as to a percentage of the State’s liability for damages. It also views the Supreme Court’s determination of the liability at 10% as problematic.

Legal Monuments for Srebrenica in the Hague

This paper addresses the question whether the premises of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and court judgments adjudicating the responsibility of various actors for what happened in Srebrenica, could be considered “legal monuments”, urging us to remember and show respect for the victims of the Srebrenica genocide of 1995.

Genocid nad Bošnjacima Srebrenice 1995. godine / Genocide against Srebrenica Bosniaks in 1995

A small town Srebrenica, located in the eastern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina became globally known after the genocide of 8.372 Bosniaks in July 1995. Three months before the Dayton peace agreement was signed, in November of 1995, the Army of Republika Srpska troops led by General Ratko Mladic committed genocide. Other than killing over 8.000 Bosniak men, they persecuted thousands of Srebrenica inhabitants. Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić have been sentenced to life in jail for the crime of genocide committed in Srebrenica. While the international institutions and the European Union recognize this crime and work proactively on remedying its consequences, the Republic of Serbia and Republika Srpska are facing deep social and political negation of the Srebrenica genocide. This denial has been an obstacle for rebuilding the trust between Serbs and Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the West Balkans in general. Meanwhile, Srebrenica and its adjoining villages lack wide and systematic support for the durable return of its displaced inhabitants. There was a failed attempt in 2007 to give the city a special administrative status as a way towards reviving it. This paper will critically analyze the approach of the Bosnian and Herzegovinian, EU, and international institutions as well as that ofneigh-boring countries towards a durable and sustainable return to Srebrenica, its economic and cultural development between 1996. and 2020. This paper argues for giving Srebrenica a special status in order to promote its development supported by a law that would ensure a solidarity fund for its development.

The Bosnian Genocide and the Srebrenica massacre

This paper aims to place the Srebrenica massacre in its broader context, both in terms of its place in the Bosnian war, and theoretically. The Srebrenica massacre is the only war crime of the Bosnian war that has, in legal terms, been solidly confirmed to have constituted genocide. In the ICTY, 2001 convicted Radislav Krstic of complicity in genocide for his role in the Srebrenica massacre, thereby establishing the fact of the Srebrenica genocide. The ICJ, in its ruling of 2007 in Bosnia vs Serbia, explicitly stated that the Srebrenica massacre was an act of genocide. However, the ICJ in the same ruling stated that other massacres of the Bosnian war, in particular those of 1992 when Bosnian Serb military forces were formally under Belgrade’s command, were not genocide. The ICTY has so far failed to convict any suspect of genocide except in relation to the Srebrenica massacre. Consequently, the Srebrenica massacre has assumed the status of a crime apart in the Bosnian war.&#x0D;