Global InformationBosnian genocide information
| Bosnian genocide | |
|---|---|
| Part of the ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War | |
 Memorial stone at the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Centre | |
| Location | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Date | 11–13 July 1995 (Srebrenica only) |
| Target | Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and prisoners of war[1] |
Attack type | Genocide, genocidal rape, persecution, ethnic cleansing, deportation, etc. |
| Deaths | Genocide:[a]
|
| Victims | Total: 1.2 million displaced
|
| Perpetrators | Army of Republika Srpska (VRS),[2] Scorpions paramilitary group[5] |
| Motive | Islamophobia, Greater Serbia, Serbianisation |
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The Bosnian genocide (Bosnian: Bosanski genocid / Босански геноцид) refers to either the Srebrenica massacre or the wider crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing campaign throughout areas controlled by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS)[6] during the Bosnian War of 1992–1995.[7] The events in Srebrenica in 1995 included the killing of more than 8000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys, as well as the mass expulsion of another 25000–30000 Bosniak civilians by VRS units under the command of General Ratko Mladić.[8][9]
The ethnic cleansing that took place in VRS-controlled areas targeted Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats. The ethnic cleansing campaign included extermination, unlawful confinement, genocidal rape,[10][11] sexual assault, torture, plunder and destruction of private and public property, and inhumane treatment of civilians; the targeting of political leaders, intellectuals, and professionals; the unlawful deportation and transfer of civilians; the unlawful shelling of civilians; the unlawful appropriation and plunder of real and personal property; the destruction of homes and businesses; and the destruction of places of worship. The acts have been found to have satisfied the requirements for "guilty acts" of genocide and that "some physical perpetrators held the intent to physically destroy the protected groups of Bosnian Muslims and Croats".[12]
In the 1990s, several authorities asserted that ethnic cleansing as carried out by elements of the Bosnian Serb army was genocide.[13] These included a resolution by the United Nations General Assembly and three convictions for genocide in German courts (the convictions were based upon a wider interpretation of genocide than that used by international courts).[14] In 2005, the United States Congress passed a resolution declaring that the Serbian policies of aggression and ethnic cleansing meet the terms defining genocide.[15]
The Srebrenica massacre was found to be an act of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, a finding upheld by the ICJ.[16] On 24 March 2016, former Bosnian Serb leader and the first president of the Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, was found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica, war crimes, and crimes against humanity and sentenced to 40 years in prison. In 2019 an appeals court increased his sentence to life imprisonment.[17] On 12 May 2021, it was announced that, in an agreement with UK authorities, he would serve the rest of his sentence in a UK prison.[18]
- ^ "Bosnia's Srebrenica massacre 25 years on - in pictures". BBC News. 10 July 2020. Archived from the original on 2 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- ^ a b c Mojzes, Paul (2011). Balkan Genocides: Holocaust and Ethnic Cleansing in the Twentieth Century. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 178. ISBN 978-1-4422-0663-2.
- ^ Peterson, Roger D. (2011). Western Intervention in the Balkans: The Strategic Use of Emotion in Conflict. Cambridge University Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-139-50330-3.
- ^ Toal, Gerard (2011). Bosnia Remade: Ethnic Cleansing and Its Reversal. Oxford University Press. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-19-973036-0.
- ^ "Serbia: Mladic "Recruited" Infamous Scorpions". Institute for War and Peace Reporting. [1] Archived 13 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ A Witness to Genocide: The 1993 Pulitzer Prize-Winning Dispatches on the "Ethnic Cleansing" of Bosnia, Roy Gutman
- ^ John Richard Thackrah (2008). The Routledge companion to military conflict since 1945, Routledge Companions Series, Taylor & Francis, 2008, ISBN 0-415-36354-3, ISBN 978-0-415-36354-9. pp. 81–82 Archived 3 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine: "Bosnian genocide can mean either the genocide committed by the Serb forces in Srebrenica in 1995 or the ethnic cleansing during the 1992–95 Bosnian War"
- ^ ICTY; "Address by ICTY President Theodor Meron, at Potocari Memorial Cemetery" The Hague, 23 June 2004 ICTY.org Archived 6 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ICTY; "Krstic judgement" UNHCR.org Archived 18 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Fairbanks, Bailey (11 January 2019). "Rape as an Act of Genocide: Definitions and Prosecutions as Established in Bosnia and Rwanda". Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II. 23 (1).
- ^ Syed, Anya (1 January 2023). "Prosecuting Rape as Genocide: An Analysis of the Legal Framework and Challenges in International Law". CMC Senior Theses.
- ^ ICTY; "Karadzic indictment. Paragraph 19" ICTY.org Archived 16 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Jorgic v. Germany (Judgment), ECHR (12 July 2007). §§ 36, 47, 111.
- ^ Jorgic v. Germany (Judgment), ECHR (12 July 2007). §§ 47, 107, 108.
- ^ A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the massacre at Srebrenica in July 1995 Archived 21 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine, 109th Congress (2005–2006), [S.RES.134]. Archived on 7 January 2016.
- ^ Jorgic v. Germany (Judgment), ECHR (12 July 2007). §§ 47, 112.
- ^ Simons, Marlise (20 March 2019). "Radovan Karadzic Sentenced to Life for Bosnian War Crimes". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 February 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
- ^ "Radovan Karadžić to serve rest of sentence in British prison". The Guardian. Reuters. 12 May 2021. Archived from the original on 20 February 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
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