Press release November 26, 2007: Mothers of Srebrenica score against UN

In the legal proceedings brought by the Mothers of Srebrenica against the State of the Netherlands and the United Nations (UN) relating to the genocide committed in 1995 in Bosnia, the Court in The Hague last week granted a judgment against the UN in its absence. The UN had let it be known outside the proceedings that it would invoke immunity and therefore had elected not to appear as a party in the proceedings. Both the Public Prosecutor and the Advocate-General had therefore attempted to have the Mothers of Srebrenica declared inadmissible in their claim against the UN. The Court held in favour of the Mothers of Srebrenica however and declared that the UN is in default of appearance.

As the UN had put itself out of the game the State of the Netherlands requested the Court to allow it to argue for the immunity of the UN. It is remarkable that the State of the Netherlands will now plead the case for the UN in the proceedings. It is, however, an understandable position. The State of the Netherlands actually has a great interest in immunity being accorded to the UN given that it would then be able to shift its own responsibility to the UN.

Following the arguments to be advanced by the State of the Netherlands the Court will have to judge whether to accord immunity to the UN, which is certainly not a foregone conclusion in this exceptional case. In fact, the immunity of the UN is only accorded to the extent that it serves the UN's own objectives. The UN has the duty to prevent genocide. An appeal to immunity in a case of genocide, as in the Srebrenica drama, is irreconcilable with the UN's own objectives and its international obligations.

Furthermore, it is here also essential that the UN provides no other alternative means of obtaining legal redress, despite the fact that the UN itself assumed that obligation as far back as 1946. The European Human Rights Convention guaranteed the right of access to an impartial Court. According immunity to the UN would mean that the Mothers of Srebrenica were denied this fundamental human right. This would be contrary to binding caselaw of the European Court of Human Rights. If the Netherlands Court recognises this then the District Court in The Hague must consequently allow the claim of the Mothers of Srebrenica against the UN.

The arguments why no immunity can be accorded to the UN in this case are set out under the numbers 447-465 inclusive (pages 193-203) of the writ of summons, which can be downloaded from our website.

Download press release (54Kb)