Press release January 19, 2010: Court hearing regarding Srebrenica on January 28, 2010, at 13:30 hrs

On behalf of 6,000 relatives of the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica (the “Mothers of Srebrenica”) a writ of summons was served against the State of The Netherlands and the United Nations on June 4th 2007. On July 10th 2008 the district court of The Hague ruled that the UN enjoys absolute immunity from jurisdiction. According to the court, this immunity is not set aside by the right of access to a court, as warranted by Article 6 ECHR. The Mothers of Srebrenica have lodged an appeal against this ruling at the Court of Appeals of The Hague. The public hearing in the appeal proceedings will take place on:

28 January 2010 at 13:30 uur
at the Court of Appeals (Gerechtshof) of The Hague
(Paleis van Justitie, Prins Clauslaan 60, The Hague)

This hearing will only concern the question whether the UN enjoys absolute immunity and may therefore never be brought before a court, and therefore is an entity operating above the law.

A delegation of the Mothers of Srebrenica will attend the hearing. In view of the anticipated interest of the (inter)national media, it is advisable to announce your attendance of the hearing in advance at the media desk of the court (Mrs. M.H. Verweij, tel.: 0031 70 381 17 15).

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