Introduction to the Case Srebrenica

At the beginning of the 1990s war broke out in the former Jugoslavia. The humanitarian situation in East Bosnia, in particular around the city of Srebrenica, was frankly catastrophic.

In March 1993 the Force Commander, General Morillon, of UNPROFOR issued the people of the city of Srebrenica the following pledge: “Vous êtes maintenant sous la protection de l’Onu… Je ne vous abandonnerai jamais.” (translation: ‘You are now under the protection of the UN ... I will never abandon you.’).

In fulfillment of this pledge to protect the area around the enclave of Srebrenica and the people within it, the UN passed several resolutions. In implementation of those resolutions the United Nations requested the Netherlands to supply the military means to protect what was termed the Safe Area. In response the Dutch cabinet provided in 1994-1995 an Airborne Battalion (Dutchbat) for that mission.

Following the surrender by Dutchbat of a number of observation posts, the attack on the enclave of Srebrenica by Bosnian-Serbian forces (VRS) began at the beginning of July 1995. The VRS took the enclave 11 July 1995. The tragic nadir of the fall of the enclave was the subsequent mass murder by the VRS of some 8,000 predominantly Muslim men. That constituted the first act of genocide in Europe since the Second World War. The Dutch battalion that was present in the enclave was apparently under the UN mandate unable to hold the enclave nor to protect from the VRS the tens of thousands of refugees present in and around the compound of Dutchbat III.

Since then a group of some 6,000 surviving relatives of the victims of the fall of the enclave of Srebrenica has formed itself. This group of surviving relatives is also known as the ‘Mothers of Srebrenica’. This group of surviving relatives holds the State of the Netherlands and the United Nations jointly responsible for the fall of the enclave at Srebrenica and therefore liable for the death of their family members and the consequent loss suffered. Van Diepen Van der Kroef, Attorneys, has been instructed to commence legal proceedings in the Netherlands on behalf of the 6,000 surviving relatives against the State of the Netherlands and the United Nations.

A team of 14 attorneys in the Netherlands and Bosnia-Herzegovina has been working on this case, together with a group of advisors. This international team is led by attorneys Marco R. Gerritsen and Axel Hagedorn.

In this special case, Van Diepen Van der Kroef Advocaten considers it essential that the general public is informed of the facts in order to arrive at a correct understanding of the matters at hand. We are furthermore of the opinion that it is in the interest of society to maintain public awareness of this case. For these reasons and as an exception, our press releases, important documents in the proceedings and a selection of relevant media publications are published here.