A Dutch court ruled Wednesday that the state was liable for the deaths of over 300 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in the Srebrenica massacre, the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II.
Families of the victims had sued the Dutch government over the 1995 killings, accusing Dutch UN peacekeepers of failing to protect the 8,000 people slaughtered by ethnic Serb forces just a few months before the end of the Bosnian war.
The incident has been a source of national shame for the Netherlands, and was seen as a major failure on the part of the United Nations — whose missions around the world could be affected by Wednesday’s ruling.
Families of the victims expressed dismay that the Dutch state was held liable only for the 300 killed after being expelled from a UN safe haven — but not for all of the deaths.
“Today we got justice for one group, that’s good,” said Munira Subasic, one of the representatives of the Mothers of Srebrenica group who were in court.
“But how do you explain to a mother that the Dutch are responsible for the death of one son that stood on one side of the fence, and not for the one on the other side?” she said through tears.
The judgement follows a Dutch court’s landmark ruling last year that the state was liable for the deaths at the UN’s Potocari compound, the first time a government had been held responsible for the actions of peacekeepers operating under a UN mandate.
– Liable for the loss –
The tiny Muslim enclave was overrun by forces under the command of Ratko Mladic, who is currently on trial on genocide and war crimes charges over the war in Bosnia, including Srebrenica.
Mladic’s troops brushed aside the lightly-armed Dutch peacekeepers in a “safe area” where thousands of Muslims from surrounding villages had gathered for protection.
The Dutch judge, Larissa Elwin, said the state was liable for the loss suffered by relatives of the men deported by the Bosnian Serbs from the Dutch battalion (Dutchbat) compound on July 13, 1995.
In subsequent days, almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered and their bodies dumped in mass graves in what two international courts have ruled was genocide.
“Dutchbat should have taken into account the possibility that these men would be the victim of genocide and that it can be said with sufficient certainty that, had the Dutchbat allowed them to stay at the compound, these men would have remained alive,” the judge ruled.
“By cooperating in the deportation of these men, Dutchbat acted unlawfully.”
However, the court also ruled that the state could not be held to account over the actions of the Dutch troops before the fall of Srebrenica.
The former Dutchbat commander Wim Dijkema described the ruling as “ridiculous”, saying his troops had previously evacuated women and children from the base safely.
“The eyes of the world were on Bosnia, what could possibly happen to these men,” he said.
The Dutch defence ministry said the court had ruled “that the state was not responsible for the fall of the enclave itself,” but that it “regrets what happened at the time with the local population”.
The ministry has not yet announced whether it will appeal.
But Srebrenica mayor Camil Durakovic said: “The mandate of the Dutch battalion was not just to protect the base, but all of Srebrenica area and inhabitants, irrespective of path they took.”
– Seeking justice for years –
Human Rights Watch offered cautious support for the ruling as a “partial step”, but stressed it was the United Nations which held ultimate responsibility for protecting civilians in its charge.
“My concern is the message this may send about the responsibility of UN peacekeeping forces tasked to protect people,” said Richard Dicker, director of HRW’s international justice programme.
“That responsibility must be set at the highest level.”
Wednesday’s ruling came just days after thousands of people gathered in Srebrenica to mark the 19th anniversary of the killings.
One of the plaintiff groups, the Mothers of Srebrenica representing some 6,000 widows and other relatives, have been seeking justice for years.
In April, the Dutch government agreed to pay 20,000 euros to relatives of three Bosnian Muslim men murdered after peacekeepers expelled them from the UN compound.
That move followed the landmark ruling in September that the state was liable for the deaths.
Both Mladic, dubbed the “Butcher of Bosnia”, and Bosnian Serb wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic are now being tried by a UN court for war crimes and genocide.
So far, the remains of 6,066 people have been exhumed from mass graves and reburied.