1. Bosnian War and Srebrenica Genocide
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was made up of six republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia (including Kosovo) and Slovenia. In June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia, beginning the country’s break up. Bosnia and Herzegovina followed, declaring its independence on April 5, 1992.

2. Perpetrators When: April 1992-December 1995
Who: Bosnian Serbs led by Slobodan Milosevic
In 1991, Bosnia-Herzegovina had a population composed of three main ethnic groups: Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim, 44%), Serb (31%), Croat (17%) and a small portion of Yugoslav (8%).
Once the government of Bosnia declared its independence in 1992, Bosnian Serbs launched a military campaign to eliminate the country of its Muslim civilian population. Bosnian Serbs were supported by Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, who strengthened nationalist attitudes and heightened ethnic tensions in the region. Over the next several years, Bosnian Serb forces targeted and committed atrocious crimes against Bosnian Muslim civilians through execution, disappearance, arbitrary detention, deportation and forcible displacement of hundreds of thousands of people on the basis of their religion or nationality. Crimes committed against Bosniaks became knows as “ethnic cleansing” and included torture, confinement in concentration camps, imprisonment, rape, murder, robbery, and forced displacement.
Slobodan Milosevic ( )
President of Serbia
Ratko Mladic
(1942-present)
Bosnian Serb military leader
Radovan Karadzic
(1945-present)
Supreme Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army

3. Bosnian Civil War Victims
Casualties: Between 130,000 and 150,000
Causes: Execution, torture, exhaustion
Targets: Primarily Bosnian Muslims (65% Muslims, 22% Serbs, 8% Croats, and 5% Others)
Serbs – Orthodox Christians
Croats – Catholics
Bosniaks – Muslims
Refugees: Hundreds of thousands
War in Bosnia and Herzegovina lasted for almost four years, with over 100,000 people dead, 20,000 missing and believed to be dead, and two million refugees or internally displaced persons (half of the Bosnian pre-war population).
At the beginning of the war, Bosnian Serbs targeted Bosnian Muslim and Croat civilians. In early 1993, Bosnian Croats targeted and initiated the persecution of Bosnian Muslim civilians in parts of the country self-proclaimed as “Croat Community of Herzeg-Bosnia.” The majority of these crimes were war crimes and crimes against humanity. In July 1995, that all changed.

4. Srebrenica Genocide Victims
Casualties: ~8,000
Causes: Military assault, execution
Targets: Bosnian Muslims, specifically men and boys.
Refugees: ~50,000
In the summer of 1995, the Bosnian Serb army prepared to attack and capture the three towns in eastern Bosnia (Srebrenica, Zepa, and Gorazde) that remained under Bosnian government control and were declared as “safe havens.” “Safe havens” were cities and territories declared as humanitarian corridors by the United Nations Security Council and placed under the protection of the UN peacekeeping units.
On July 11th, as Bosnian Serb forces advanced on Srebrenica, Bosniak Muslim civilians sought shelter at the UN base in Potocari – north of Srebrenica – which was administered by Dutch peacekeeping forces. However, Bosnian Serb forces arrived to Potocari that night and started terrorizing, raping, and killing Bosniaks seeking shelter by the UN base.
In Srebrenica, the Bosnian Serbs separated out all males between the ages of 12 and 77 while the women and children were deported to the “Muslim territory.” Women and children were boarded on buses and transported to Bosnian government territories. During the transportation, buses were regularly stopped and women were taken off to be killed or raped. Men and boys were held by Bosnian Serb forces. Some were executed immediately, while others were bussed to mass killing sites together with other men captured in the surrounding areas.
On July 13th, the Dutch soldiers posted in Srebrenica, under pressure, handed over the remaining Bosniak refugees taking shelter inside the base to Bosnian Serbs.
Mass executions continued for days. Over a period of approximately one week, from July 11-19, Bosnian Serbs executed 7,000 to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica and surrounding towns.
The massacre that occurred in Srebrenica was the single worst atrocity committed in the former Yugoslavia during the wars in 1990s and the worst massacre that occurred in Europe since the Holocaust. It was a well-planned and coordinated genocide that saw some 25,000 Bosniaks forcibly transferred and expelled to other territories. Twenty years later, bodies from the massacre continue to be found. So far, the recovered remains of more than 6,000 people have been reburied in the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial in Potocari. The identification of victims is exacerbated by the fact that Bosnian Serbs attempted to relocate the bodies from their mass graves in order to cover up their crimes.
In the photo on the left Dutch UN Peacekeepers control a large crowd of refugees who just fled Srebrenica and on the right a mother holds a photo of her young son who was killed by the Bosnian Serb army in July 1995.

5. Srebrenica Refugees
20,000 women and children fled Srebrenica the morning of the siege to the nearby city of Potocari.
15,000 men fled after the siege for the nearest Muslim enclave in Tulza, 63 miles away from Srebrenica.
23,000 women and children were deported by the Serbs to “Muslim territory” the day following the start of the siege.
The war in Bosnia spurred a refugee crisis from the very beginning of the conflict and tens of thousands found themselves living as refugees and internally displaced people in the town of Srebrenica. Srebrenica was dubbed a U.N. “safe zone” guarded by Dutch UN peacekeepers. It is believed that there were around 60,000 war refugees in Srebrenica when it was seized by the Bosnian Serb Army.
On the morning of the start of the Srebrenica massacre, carried out by the Serbs on July 11, 1995, it is estimated that 20,000 women and children fled Srebrenica for the nearby city of Potocari where they could find relative safety at a Dutch base. Upon arriving at the Dutch base only 5,000 refugees were allowed inside while the rest were forced to hide in nearby warehouses and factories.
That night, many men tried to flee through the hills to the region of Bosnia that was still controlled by the government and where Muslims lived in relative safety. However, the vast majority of these men were killed or captured by Serbian forces before reaching the free territory.

6. Srebrenica Genocide – Timeline
July 16: Following negotiations between the UN and Bosnian Serbs, the Dutch forces abandon Srebrenica, leaving weapons, food and medical supplies.
The first refugees reach Muslim territory and report murders.
July 10: Approximately 30,000 people evacuate Srebrenica and move toward Potocari.
July 12: Buses arrive to take women and children to Muslim territory, while the Serbs begin separating out all males from age 12 to 77 for "interrogation for suspected war crimes."
July 8: Bosnian Serb forces instruct the people in Srebrenica to surrender their weapons and leave.
July 1995
July 11: Ratko Mladic enters Srebrenica to negotiate with the Dutch forces for the surrender of Muslims with weapons in the city.
July 13: The first killings of unarmed Muslims took place in a warehouse in the nearby village of Kravica.
Peacekeepers hand over about 5,000 Muslims sheltered in Potocari.
The genocide in Srebrenica lasted for just over a week and ended with 8,000 Muslim men and boys dead. This timeline shows the day by day actions taken by Bosnian Serbs to achieve their goals. Human Rights Watch was present in Srebrenica and Potocari during the genocide. There are eyewitness testimonies that Bosnian Serb soldiers dressed as UN troops as part of the psychological attack against the fleeing refugees and genocide victims.
July 9: The Bosnian Serbs step up their shelling and thousands of refugees fled to Potocari ahead of advancing Serbs, who attacked Dutch observation posts, taking 30 soldiers hostage.

7. What’s Happened Since Srebrenica?
1993 – ICTY established at the Hague.
December 1995 – Dayton Accords brought peace to Bosnia and created two entities: the Republic of Srpska and the Bosnian Federation.
2001 – The ICTY ruled that genocide had occurred in Srebrenica.
2007 – The International Court of Justice determined that Serbia violated the Genocide Convention by not doing enough to prevent genocide in Srebrenica.
February 2015 – The United States deported at least 150 Bosnians living in the US believed to have taken part in the conflict.
Thursday, March 24, 2016 – Radovan Karadzic, nicknamed the "Butcher of Bosnia," was found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica and other crimes against humanity committed during the Bosnian War from to 1995.
On May 25, 1993, the UN Security Council created the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to prosecute the perpetrators of the atrocities occurring in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ICTY is prosecuting only the most senior leaders, while referring other cases to national courts. Since its creation, the ICTY has charged 161 people (69 convicted) and interviewed over 4,500 witnesses. In addition to genocide, the ICTY also ruled that rape was used as an instrument of torture by the Bosnian Serb armed forces.
Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serbian military leader, was transferred to the ICTY in He died during his trial in 2006.
National courts of former Yugoslav republics are prosecuting hundreds of war crime cases annually. In Bosnia and Herzegovina alone, in 2014, the Court convicted 25 individuals of war crimes, imposing over 320 years of prison sentences. It is interesting to note that the Court had no guilty pleas during this period.
Worth mentioning: In July 2014, a Dutch court (The Hague district court) ruled that the Netherlands is liable over killings of more than 300 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) boys and men at Srebrenica. The case was launched by the relatives of Srebrenica victims. The Court has ruled that Dutch forces could have protected 300-plus men and boys who were among a thousand Muslims taking shelter in the Dutch compound, clearing them of responsibility for the other 7,700 deaths. The Netherlands will pay compensation to the victims’ families.
Important: In 2015, the US government began identifying and deporting Bosnians suspected of war crimes and ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian genocide. Officials have identified about 300 immigrants who they believe concealed their involvement in wartime atrocities when they came to the United States as part of a wave of Bosnian war refugees fleeing the violence there. They believe that number could go up to 600. The deportation process has already begun for 150 people as the government urges witnesses to come forward and identify perpetrators who lied about their refugee status.
In March 2016, a UN tribunal in The Hague found Radovan Karadzic guilty of 10 out of 11 counts of genocide in Srebrenica, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities in the Bosnian war of the 1990s, including leading the slaughter of thousands of Bosnian Muslims. Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years in prison plus time served.

8. Resources
Human Rights Watch:
“War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina (Volume II)” HRW report:
“Milosevic to Face Bosnian Genocide Charges” HRW press release:
“The Fall of Srebrenica and the Failure of UN Peacekeeping” HRW report:
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: genocide/cases/bosnia-herzegovina
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY):
Justice Report: