Genocide is one of the most universally reprehensible crimes against humanity. Its purpose is nothing if not a threat to human survival. Often when one thinks of genocide, they think of the Holocaust, as it is the largest scale attack on a specific group of people in recorded history. Although the tragedy of the Holocaust should not be forgotten, it should not be remembered as the only example of modern genocide. Due to the incomparable number of murders that took place, the mass extermination of Jewish peoples during World War II usually overshadows the many other examples of genocide that have taken place in the years that followed. Large scale murder still exists today and has become a disturbing trend in the modern world.
An example of mass genocide that occurred in recent European history is the massacre of Srebrenica. In 1995, in only a few short days, over 8,000 Bosnians were methodically executed by Serbian forces in a small town at the Eastern border of Bosnia. Despite the involvement of the United Nations, the Serbian populated Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) was capable of committing the largest act of genocide in Europe since the holocaust.
Following years of territorial conflicts between the local Serbians and Bosnians, the UN declared the town of Srebrenica a “Safe Zone,” in which the Bosnian population could live free from attacks or other acts of aggression. For two years, the town existed as a demilitarized zone, under the supervision of the UN Protection Force. Serbian forces outside of the town blockaded all supplies from reaching the town, leaving the Bosnian people poorly supplied, underequipped, and lacking in food and medicine. Although the UN was aware of the blockade, they made no attempt to stop it, as their primary goal was prevention of further combat.
In July of 1995, the significantly better equipped Serbian troops invaded Srebrenica, violating the established “Safe Zone.” They encountered very little resistance from the poorly equipped Bosnian defenses. In a matter of days the town was overthrown; many of the town’s refugees gathered in a small compound established by the United Nations. It wasn’t long before the Serbian forces discovered the 25,000 refugees within the perimeter. Over the next ten days, over 8,000 Bosnian people were executed with ruthlessly planned efficiency. The majority of these male, female, child, and elderly victims were executed by firing squad and buried in mass unmarked graves.
Even with the remnants of genocide so clearly evident in Eastern Bosnia, the UN was unable to convict the VRS of crimes against humanity for another nine years. In a landmark ruling, Theodore Meron, the presiding judge of the UN stated, “By seeking to eliminate a part of the Bosnian Muslims, the Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide. They targeted for extinction the 40,000 Bosnian Muslims living in Srebrenica ...They stripped all the male Muslim prisoners, military and civilian, elderly and young, of their personal belongings and identification, and deliberately and methodically killed them solely on the basis of their identity.”
Works Cited
"Srebrenica Massacre." Welcome Back to The Frost Blog. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/srebrenica_massacre.html>.
"Timeline: Siege of Srebrenica." BBC News. BBC, 06 Sept. 2005. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/675945.stm>.
Traynor, Ian. "Srebrenica Genocide: Worst Massacre in Europe since the Nazis." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 10 June 2010. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/jun/10/hague-bosnian-serb-srebrenica-genocide1>.
