JUDGMENTS FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE HAGUE IN PROCEEDINGS BROUGHT AGAINST THE NETHERLANDS AND THE UNITED NATIONS WITH RESPECT TO SREBRENICA

Extract

Introductory Note [by the Board of Editors]

The massacre of an estimated 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men by Bosnian Serbs after the fall of the Srebrenica enclave in July 1995 is the largest mass murder in Europe after the Second World War and will be remembered as the most gruesome crime committed during the war in the former Yugoslavia. Although the area was declared a safe haven by Security Council Resolution 819 of 16 April 1993 and despite the presence of about 400 Dutch peacekeeping soldiers (Dutchbat), the international community of states was unable to protect Srebrenica.